Psychological distress among caregivers raising a child with autism spectrum disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic may disproportionately impact parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Loss of services and supports, heightened fears about increased infection rates, and disruption of daily routines likely adversely affect the well-being of children with ASD and their families. The goal of this study was to examine differences in psychological distress-as defined by symptoms of anxiety, depression, loneliness, and hyperarousal-between parents raising a child with ASD and parents in the US as a whole during the early stages of the pandemic (March-April 2020). Parents raising a child with ASD (n = 3556) were recruited through SPARK, a national ASD research registry, whereas a representative sample of parents in the US (n = 5506) were recruited from the Pew Research Center's American Trends Panel. All data were captured via online surveys. Descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regressions examined psychological distress at the item and summary score level. Parents of children with ASD reported higher levels of overall psychological distress (48% vs. 25%; aOR = 1.60, 95% CI: 1.32, 1.84, p < 0.001). Hyperarousal, or feelings of panic when thinking about COVID-19, was particularly prevalent among parents of children with ASD compared to parents in the US (25% vs. 9%; aOR = 2.38, 95% CI: 1.83, 3.07, p < 0.001). Findings highlight the importance of considering the policies and practices that contribute to poor mental health in parents, particularly those raising a child with ASD, to ensure mental health services remain accessible. LAY SUMMARY: This study examined the mental health of parents raising a child with ASD during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results demonstrated substantially higher levels of psychological distress, particularly those related to feelings of panic, among parents raising a child with ASD when compared to parents in the US as a whole. These data suggest the need for ensuring mental health services are accessible to parents, particularly those raising a child with ASD, during and after the pandemic.

Smoking during pregnancy affects speech-processing ability in newborn infants.

BACKGROUND: Tobacco smoking during pregnancy is known to adversely affect development of the central nervous system in babies of smoking mothers by restricting utero-placental blood flow and the amount of oxygen available to the fetus. Behavioral data associate maternal smoking with lower verbal scores and poorer performance on specific language/auditory tests. OBJECTIVES: In the current study we examined the effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy on newborns' speech processing ability as measured by event-related potentials (ERPs). METHOD: High-density ERPs were recorded within 48 hr of birth in healthy newborn infants of smoking (n = 8) and nonsmoking (n = 8) mothers. Participating infants were matched on sex, gestational age, birth weight, Apgar scores, mother's education, and family income. Smoking during pregnancy was determined by parental self-report and medical records. ERPs were recorded in response to six consonant-vowel syllables presented in random order with equal probability. RESULTS: Brainwaves of babies of nonsmoking mothers were characterized by typical hemisphere asymmetries, with larger amplitudes over the left hemisphere, especially over temporal regions. Further, infants of nonsmokers discriminated among a greater number of syllables whereas the newborns of smokers began the discrimination process at least 150 msec later and differentiated among fewer stimuli. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that prenatal exposure to tobacco smoke in otherwise healthy babies is linked with significant changes in brain physiology associated with basic perceptual skills that could place the infant at risk for later developmental problems.