Communications Medicine (May 2022)

Maternal psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic and structural changes of the human fetal brain

  • Yuan-Chiao Lu,
  • Nickie Andescavage,
  • Yao Wu,
  • Kushal Kapse,
  • Nicole R. Andersen,
  • Jessica Quistorff,
  • Haleema Saeed,
  • Catherine Lopez,
  • Diedtra Henderson,
  • Scott D. Barnett,
  • Gilbert Vezina,
  • David Wessel,
  • Adre du Plessis,
  • Catherine Limperopoulos

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43856-022-00111-w
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 2, no. 1
pp. 1 – 13

Abstract

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Lu, Andescavage et al. scanned fetal brains by MRI and assessed maternal distress before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Impaired fetal brain growth, delayed cerebral cortical gyrification and increased maternal distress was seen in COVID-19 pandemic era pregnancies.