COVID-19 Pandemic May Affect Neurodevelopment of Infants, Kidney Scarring, and Weight Loss Treatment

Throughout the pandemic, many studies have been conducted by various institutes about the corresponding effects and further implications brought by the coronavirus. Today, there are significant findings revealing some potential impacts of the SARS-CoV-2 in separate fields of public health.

The recent studies that follow are insights regarding the new investigations from COVID-19. Although strong data supports these theories, the papers are still in the process and are yet to be verified through peer reviews.

Impact of Pandemic in Child's Brain Development

In the first study, it was found that the pandemic may bring a significant effect to infants who lived through the event. However, there were no conclusive papers that showed a massive shift in the development of a child, which was forced by COVID-19. The new study points directly to the pandemic itself.

The examination of links between the infant's brain development and COVID-19 was made possible through the help of data from 255 full-term infants based in New York City. The subjects were all born during the pandemic, and 114 of the mothers were confirmed to have tested positive from the coronavirus during the gestation period.

New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University expert Dani Dumitriu, who led the study, said that there were no recorded changes in the neurodevelopment of the infants when they reached six months of age due to the SARS-CoV-2 infection of their mothers. However, the infants born during the pandemic had lower scores in basic tasks that involved large muscles, small muscles, and personal interactions.

The scholars said that even if negative impacts were observed, it does not necessarily mean that the children will be inflicted with long-term complications. The research was published in JAMA Pediatrics, titled "Association of Birth During the COVID-19 Pandemic With Neurodevelopmental Status at 6 Months in Infants With and Without In Utero Exposure to Maternal SARS-CoV-2 Infection."

SARS-CoV-2 Can Infiltrate Kidney's Layers, Resulting in Scarring and Long-Term Effects

The second study suggests that the coronavirus could scar human kidneys. Based on the research, COVID-19 has the ability to directly hit the kidneys through a trigger of a series of molecular activities on kidneys, leading to severe scarring of the organs.

These scars found in the kidneys of COVID-19 survivors affect the tissues on the organ and may lead to long-term impacts on its functions. Upon exposing the tiny replicas of the organ to SARS-CoV-2 in a controlled environment, researchers found that the coronavirus could infiltrate several layers of the kidney and initiate a molecular switch, leading to unwanted scarring.

This study may have been the reason why a separate study detected a malicious kidney scarring in 90,000 individuals who survived the infection. The new research on the effects of the virus on survivors' kidneys was led by scientists from the Netherlands' Radboud University Medical Center and was published in Cell Stem Cell, titled "SARS-CoV-2 infects the human kidney and drives fibrosis in kidney organoids."

People Who Lost Weight Under Treatment Have Lower Risks from Having Severe COVID-19 Infection

The third research focused on COVID-19's connection with obesity. According to the authors, specific weight-loss treatments have a chance to reduce the risk of COVID-19's severity upon infection. The results are still similar even if an individual remains to be diagnosed with obesity after losing excess weight from the process.

The new paper was based on the data from over 20,000 adults who suffered from obesity. The subjects included more than 5,000 patients who undergo a weight-loss treatment called bariatric surgery.

All of the patients suffered similar rates of COVID-19 infection, but the group who were able to pass bariatric surgery had a lower risk of being hospitalized, lower requirements for sustaining oxygen, and were safe from the risk of severity and death. Outcomes of the details were covered in a previous report. The detailed analysis was published in JAMA Surgery, titled "Association of Weight Loss Achieved Through Metabolic Surgery With Risk and Severity of COVID-19 Infection."

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