ArticleArchives of disease in childhood2026
Long-term association between the COVID-19 pandemic and language development in children aged 18 months: effect modification by sex, childcare location and family size.
Article in Archives of disease in childhood, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on child development: comparing pre- and post-pandemic developmental process levels.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveWe evaluated the long-term association between the COVID-19 pandemic and the language development of children aged 18 months by comparing prepandemic and pandemic periods in Japan. STUDY
designThis repeated cross-sectional study included 39 840 children attending 18-month health check-ups conducted by the Okayama City Public Health Center (January 2017-March 2024). We compared language development indicators before (January 2017-March 2020) and during (April 2020-March 2024) the pandemic, with the latter divided into early (April 2020-March 2022) and late (April 2022-March 2024) periods. The primary outcome was the proportion of children requiring language development follow-up (children who did not meet any one of the three questions on language development). The secondary outcome was the proportion of children who could not say ≥3 meaningful words (one of the three questions). Risk ratios (RRs) and 95% CIs were estimated adjusting for confounders, with subgroup analyses by sex, childcare location (home, nursery school) and family size (≤3, ≥4).
resultsCompared with the prepandemic period, increased RRs were observed during the pandemic: 1.19 (95% CI 1.15 to 1.22) for the primary outcome and 1.16 (95% CI 1.11 to 1.22) for the secondary outcome. RRs were higher in the late than in the early period. Adverse associations were more pronounced in girls than boys, and in children cared for at home.
conclusionThe long-term association between the pandemic and language development at 18 months suggests the need for more comprehensive support for high-risk families.
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