Children born to mothers infected with COVID-19 during pregnancy faced a higher risk of autism, along with other neurological differences such as delays in speech and motor development, according to a study published Thursday.

The analysis of more than 18,100 births in Massachusetts, published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology, is among the largest studies to date examining children born to women who contracted the virus starting in the early months of the pandemic through some of 2021, before vaccines were widely available.

The study’s authors emphasized that, as an observational study, the findings do not prove that COVID-19 causes the conditions diagnosed in children, but rather signal an association between maternal infection and these outcomes. And the risk of such a diagno

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