TY - JOUR
T1 - A retrospective cohort study analyzing the changes in early childhood development during the COVID-19 pandemic
AU - Romem, Sahar
AU - Katusic, Maja
AU - Wi, Chung Il
AU - Hentz, Roland
AU - Lynch, Brian A
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2024/5
Y1 - 2024/5
N2 - Objective: To investigate early childhood development (ECD) outcomes in different subgroups before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Study design: A retrospective cohort study of children 3–58 months of age whose caregivers completed a Survey of Well-being of Young Children (SWYC) as part of a well child visit (WCC). The data were divided into two phases: pre-pandemic (September 2018 – February 2020), and during pandemic (September 2020 – February 2022). The difference in the proportion of forms with Meets Expectations interpreted scores on the SWYC Developmental Milestones pre-pandemic versus during the pandemic timeframe overall and among subgroups were reported. Hypotheses were tested using logistic regression with repeated measures. Results: 14,550 patients were included in the sample for analysis with 52,558 SWYC form observations. There was no difference in the odds of a Meets Expectations interpreted score before and after the pandemic for the entire sample, OR 0.99 (95 % CI: 0.94–1.04). There was evidence of decreased odds of an interpreted score of Meets Expectations for the following subgroups: male, Hispanic/Latino ethnicity, ages of 24, 30 or 36 months at WCC, Medicaid insurance, 2nd HOUSES Quartile, requiring interpreter, single parent household, young maternal age, maternal substance abuse, and race identified as Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, American Indian/Native Alaskan or Other. Conclusion: Decreased odds of meeting developmental milestones during the pandemic were evident in certain high risk sub-groups revealing unequal distribution of suboptimal developmental outcomes within our population during the pandemic that may be exacerbating existing inequities impacting development in children.
AB - Objective: To investigate early childhood development (ECD) outcomes in different subgroups before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Study design: A retrospective cohort study of children 3–58 months of age whose caregivers completed a Survey of Well-being of Young Children (SWYC) as part of a well child visit (WCC). The data were divided into two phases: pre-pandemic (September 2018 – February 2020), and during pandemic (September 2020 – February 2022). The difference in the proportion of forms with Meets Expectations interpreted scores on the SWYC Developmental Milestones pre-pandemic versus during the pandemic timeframe overall and among subgroups were reported. Hypotheses were tested using logistic regression with repeated measures. Results: 14,550 patients were included in the sample for analysis with 52,558 SWYC form observations. There was no difference in the odds of a Meets Expectations interpreted score before and after the pandemic for the entire sample, OR 0.99 (95 % CI: 0.94–1.04). There was evidence of decreased odds of an interpreted score of Meets Expectations for the following subgroups: male, Hispanic/Latino ethnicity, ages of 24, 30 or 36 months at WCC, Medicaid insurance, 2nd HOUSES Quartile, requiring interpreter, single parent household, young maternal age, maternal substance abuse, and race identified as Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, American Indian/Native Alaskan or Other. Conclusion: Decreased odds of meeting developmental milestones during the pandemic were evident in certain high risk sub-groups revealing unequal distribution of suboptimal developmental outcomes within our population during the pandemic that may be exacerbating existing inequities impacting development in children.
KW - Child development
KW - COVID-19 pandemic
KW - Mass screening
KW - Socioeconomic disparities in health
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U2 - 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2024.105991
DO - 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2024.105991
M3 - Article
C2 - 38552329
AN - SCOPUS:85189437268
SN - 0378-3782
VL - 192
JO - Early Human Development
JF - Early Human Development
M1 - 105991
ER -