Practically since the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, experts have noticed neurological and mental health symptoms among recovered patients and expressed concern. Much as the polio pandemic of the mid-20th century left a generation of children in wheelchairs and crutches, it is possible that the COVID-19 pandemic could leave a future generation struggling with neurodevelopmental diseases. The challenge, at least when it comes to diagnosing these ailments in younger patients, is that it can take years for experts to build up the necessary body of research.
A new study in the journal JAMA Network Open is now doing its own small part to fill that void — and its news is not promising.
