Experts evaluated the data of Rospotrebnadzor on the impact of COVID on the IQ of children

Popovich and Malyshev on Gorelov: it is too early to draw conclusions about the impact of COVID in pregnant women on the IQ of children

It will be possible to check the conclusion about the impact of COVID during a mother’s pregnancy on the child’s IQ only when significant material has accumulated. So far, there is no need to talk about this, experts interviewed by RBC say

To say that if a pregnant woman was not vaccinated and had COVID-19, then her child’s IQ will be 20% lower is premature, since there is very little information. This was stated to RBC by an infectious disease doctor, Doctor of Medical Sciences Nikolai Malyshev, commenting on the words of Alexander Gorelov, Deputy Director for Research at the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology of Rospotrebnadzor.

“It’s not very clear to me how today you can talk about the IQ of children born to mothers who have recovered from covid. We live with the virus for about two years, the pregnancy lasts nine months, and it turns out that the IQ of the child was determined at 1.5 years. How this was done is not very clear, ”said Malyshev.

Larisa Popovich, Director of the Institute for Health Economics at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, told RBC that a study was conducted in the UK that showed that adolescents who had recovered from COVID-19 had IQs reduced by about seven units. “That is, after covid, intellectual abilities really fall,” she pointed out. However, it is difficult to determine the level of intelligence in infants, since tests usually begin at the age of 14.

“It is unlikely that there is reliable data on the IQ of infants somewhere, it is not a fact that evidence-based medicine has them. This is probably speculation, to put it mildly. Because it will be possible to verify this conclusion only when significant material is accumulated about mothers who have been ill with covid, babies are born, ”added the expert.