Washington: According to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, children born to mothers who had Covid-19 during pregnancy may be more likely to develop obesity. More than 100 million Covid-19 cases have been reported in the United States since 2019, and there is limited information on the long-term health effects of the infection. Pregnant women make up 9 per cent of reproductive-aged women with Covid-19, and millions of babies will be exposed to maternal infection during fetal development over the next five years.
Our findings suggest that children exposed in utero to maternal COVID-19 have an altered growth pattern in early life that may increase their risk of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease over time. There is still a lot of research needed to understand the effects of COVID-19 on pregnant women and their children, said Lindsay T. Fourman, M.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Mass
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The researchers studied 150 infants born to mothers who had COVID-19 during pregnancy and found they had lower birth weight followed by greater weight gain in the first year of life as compared to 130 babies whose mothers did not have a prenatal infection. These changes have been associated with an increased risk for obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease in childhood and beyond.
Our findings emphasise the importance of long-term follow-up of children exposed in utero to maternal Covid-19 infection, as well as widespread implementation of Covid-19 prevention strategies among pregnant individuals,” said Andrea G. Edlow, M.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital, adding, “Larger studies with longer follow-up duration are needed to confirm these associations.
The other authors of this study are Mollie W. Ockene, Samuel C. Russo, Hang Lee, Takara L. Stanley, Ingrid L. Ma, Mabel Toribio, Lydia L. Shook, and Steven K. Grinspoon of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School; and Carmen Monthe-Dreze of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass.
The study received funding from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Nutrition Obesity Research Center at Harvard, the Boston Area Diabetes Endocrinology Research Center, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the American Heart Association, and the Simons Foundation.
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(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
