ReviewExperimental and therapeutic medicine2026
Disrupted beginnings: Neurodevelopmental outcomes of COVID-19 lockdowns in early childhood (Review).
Review in Experimental and therapeutic medicine, 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
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Prenatal COVID-19 Exposure and Neurodevelopmental and Neurological Disorders in Children.JAMA network open · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Early childhood development depends on stable routines, social interaction and responsive caregiving. The 2019 coronavirus disease pandemic disrupted these supports through lockdowns, reduced early-education access and elevated caregiver stress. The present review synthesized empirical studies (2020-2025) of children aged 0-5 years and found consistent evidence of modest increases in emotional and behavioral difficulties, particularly where caregiver stress or socioeconomic adversity was elevated. Cognitive, language and executive-function (EF) outcomes were found to be more heterogeneous and appeared most affected in the contexts of reduced stimulation or limited access to early learning, with EF processes showing particular sensitivity to stress-related and environmental disruptions. Biological findings (cortisol, DNA methylation and infant brain measures) showed a number of converging signals, particularly in higher-risk contexts, but remained preliminary given modest sample sizes, methodological heterogeneity and limited replication. Overall, this suggested that pandemic-related disruptions disproportionately affected children in vulnerable family contexts. Therefore, the present study suggested targeted caregiver mental-health support, preservation of early-education access during emergencies and longitudinal follow-up of high-risk cohorts.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.