Covid lockdown linked to increase in early child development issues

Lockdown and social distancing measures during the Covid-19 pandemic were associated with increased developmental concerns about young children in Scotland, research suggests.

A study of almost 258,000 children in Scotland found that, after accounting for pre-pandemic trends, there was an increase in the proportion of toddlers showing any developmental issues throughout the period of lockdown and social distancing measures between March 2020 and August 2021.

This increase was greater for those who experienced a longer period of social distancing measures with up to a 6.6 per cent increase.

Researchers say the findings provide important new data on how the Covid-19 pandemic public health and social measures from March 2020 were associated with early child development, including speech and language skills, physical movement or emotional growth.

The University of Edinburgh led study measured relationships between lockdown measures and developmental concerns identified by the health visitors of young children.  

The study is the largest known analysis of data assessing Covid-19 measures on child developmental outcomes at a population level in the United Kingdom or Europe.

The researchers assessed data from routine health reviews and examined the proportion of children with any concerns raised by health visitors regarding their development over time.

The study assessed more than 80 per cent of all children in Scotland who were aged 13 to 15 months and 27 to 30 months between January 2019 and August 2023.

Researchers found evidence of increased developmental concerns among children, with up to a 6.6 percentage points increase in the proportion of children with at least one developmental concern across the 72 weeks where lockdown measures were in place from March 2020 to August 2021.

Findings were consistent across different types of developmental concerns including problem solving, speech and behaviour.

The proportion of children with developmental concerns remained higher than pre-pandemic levels even after lockdown and social distancing measures were removed in August 2021.

Notably, developmental concerns at 13 to 15 months continued to rise even after the public health and social measures were lifted, while developmental concerns at the 27 to 30 month reviews stopped increasing but remained above pre-pandemic levels.

The study, in partnership with Public Health Scotland, was conducted as part of the wider Covid -19 Health Impact on long-term Child Development in Scotland (CHILDS) study. Both this study and the wider CHILDS study were funded by the UKRI Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

Researcher Dr Iain Hardie of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, said: “Covid-19 public health and social measures played a vital role in curbing the spread of infections during the pandemic. However, the findings of our study suggest that they also appear to have been associated with increased early childhood development concerns.”

Principal researcher and originator of the CHILDS study Professor Bonnie Auyeung, of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, said: “It has been a privilege to work with our partners in Public Health Scotland on this research. With its integrated healthcare system, Scotland is well positioned to enable this kind of population level study, and it is exciting to see our work being published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe. We hope this work will help inform the discussion about how best to support children from the Covid-19 era as they develop over the coming years.”

The team added that although the study provides evidence of an association between lockdown measures and developmental concerns in young children, it is important to note that the influence of other factors occurring at the same time cannot be ruled out.

The study is published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe 2025.Link to study: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanepe/article/PIIS2666-7762(25)00317-5/fulltext  [URL will become active after embargo lifts]. DOI 10.1016/j.lanepe.2025.101525.

The research team also included scientists from Public Health Scotland, the University of Dundee, the University of Sheffield and the Istituto Italiano di Technologia in Italy.

CHILDS builds upon the previous Covid-19 in Pregnancy in Scotland (COPS) study which examined the effects of the SARS- CoV-2 infections and Covid-19 vaccinations to the point of birth and the newborn period. CHILDS examines subsequent health and developmental outcomes in children during their early childhood period.