To examine and synthesize the available knowledge in the literature about the effects of preterm birth on the development of school-age children. this was a systematic review of studies published in the past ten years indexed in MEDLINE/Pubmed, MEDLINE/BVS; LILACS/BVS; IBECS/BVS; Cochrane/BVS, CINAHL, Web of Science, Scopus, and PsycNET in three languages (Portuguese, Spanish, and English). Observational and experimental studies that assessed motor development and/or behavior and/or academic performance and whose target-population consisted of preterm children aged 8 to 10 years were included. Article quality was assessed by the Strengthening the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology (STROBE) and Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scales; articles that did not achieve a score of 80% or more were excluded. the electronic search identified 3,153 articles, of which 33 were included based on the eligibility criteria. Only four studies found no effect of prematurity on the outcomes (two articles on behavior, one on motor performance and one on academic performance). Among the outcomes of interest, behavior was the most searched (20 articles, 61%), followed by academic performance (16 articles, 48%) and motor impairment (11 articles, 33%). premature infants are more susceptible to motor development, behavior and academic performance impairment when compared to term infants. These types of impairments, whose effects are manifested in the long term, can be prevented through early parental guidance, monitoring by specialized professionals, and interventions.

To verify whether early intervention focused on the family improves the cognitive, motor, and language development of children born preterm and/or at social risk in the first 3 years of life. Meta-analysis of clinical trials published between 2008 and 2018, in the following databases: CINAHL, MEDLINE - PubMed, MEDLINE - BVS, LILACS - BVS, IBECS - BVS, PEDro and Cochrane Reviews. Experimental studies on early interventions focused on the family, whose target groups were children born preterm and/or at social risk, with assessment of cognitive and/or motor and/or language development up to 3 years were included. The studies were rated using the PEDro Scale. Twelve studies were included from a total of 3378 articles. Early intervention focused on the family contributed to the development of the cognitive (Standardized Mean Difference - SMD=0.48, 95% CI: 0.34-0.61) and motor (SMD=0.76, 95% CI: 0.55-0.96) domains of preterm infants. Regarding cognitive development, performance improvement was observed at 12, 24 and 36 months, while in the motor domain, the effect was observed only at 12 months in preterm infants. There was no benefit of the intervention in the cognitive, motor, and language outcomes of children with the social risk factor associated to biological risk. Early intervention focused on the family has a positive effect on the cognition of preterm infants. The effect on motor development was lower, possibly due to the emphasis on interventions in family-child interaction. The effect of interventions on the development of children at social risk and on the language domain was inconclusive, due to the scarcity of studies in the area.

Potential medium- and long-term neurodevelopmental sequelae of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection during pregnancy have not been ruled out. We aimed to systematically review and summarize the evidence regarding the effects of intrauterine exposure to SARS-CoV-2 on infant development and behavior. Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, and PsycNet databases were searched for studies published up to February 6, 2023, investigating the effects of gestational SARS-CoV-2 on infant development and behavior. We performed narrative synthesis according to updated protocols. Studies using comparison groups and with the Ages and Stages Questionnaires-Third Edition (ASQ-3) scores available were included in a meta-analysis performed according to Cochrane protocols. We used the Newcastle–Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale to analyze the risk of bias. Heterogeneity was calculated using the I² statistic. The search identified 2,782 studies. After removing duplicates and applying the eligibility criteria, we performed a narrative synthesis of 10 included studies and a meta-analysis of three. There was no evidence of higher developmental delay rates in infants exposed to SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy compared to non-exposed infants. However, the exposed infants scored lower than either the non-exposed children or pre-pandemic cohorts in some domains. Pooled results from the random-effects model indicated that SARS-CoV-2-exposed infants had lower scores on fine motor (mean difference [MD] = -4.70, 95% confidence interval [CI]: -8.76; -0.63), and problem-solving (MD = -3.05, 95% CI: -5.88; -0.22) domains than non-exposed infants (heterogeneity: I² = 69% and 88%, respectively). There was no difference between the exposed and non-exposed infants in the communication, gross motor, and personal-social ASQ-3 domains.   Conclusion: We did not find evidence confirming the association between SARS-CoV-2 gestational exposure and neurodevelopmental delays. However, the meta-analysis indicated that gestational exposure negatively affected fine motor and problem-solving skills. Robust evidence on this topic is still incipient, and the available studies present methodological inconsistencies that limit the drawing of clear-cut conclusions.   PROSPERO registration: #CRD42022308002; March 14, 2022. What is Known: • COVID-19 is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes potentially linked to neurodevelopmental delays. • SARS-CoV-2 vertical transmission is rare; however, infections during pregnancy can be deleterious to the fetus, possibly mediated by maternal immune activation and other inflammatory mechanisms. What is New: • No evidence of increased developmental delay rates among SARS-CoV-2 gestational-exposed infants was found. However, a meta-analysis of three studies showed lower scores in fine motor and personal social ASQ-3 domains among exposed infants. • SARS-CoV-2 gestational exposure and the pandemic can affect child development via many mechanisms. Potential neurodevelopmental sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 exposure during gestation have not been ruled out.

Considering numerical simulations, this study shows that the so-called vertical social distancing health policy is ineffective to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. We present the SEIR-Net model, for a network of social group interactions, as a development of the classic mathematical model of SEIR epidemics (Susceptible-Exposed-Infected (symptomatic and asymptomatic)-Removed). In the SEIR-Net model, we can simulate social contacts between groups divided by age groups and analyze different strategies of social distancing. In the vertical distancing policy, only older people are distanced, whereas in the horizontal distancing policy all age groups adhere to social distancing. These two scenarios are compared to a control scenario in which no intervention is made to distance people. The vertical distancing scenario is almost as bad as the control, both in terms of people infected and in the acceleration of cases. On the other hand, horizontal distancing, if applied with the same intensity in all age groups, significantly reduces the total infected people “flattening the disease growth curve”. Our analysis considers the city of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, but similar conclusions apply to other cities as well. Code implementation of the model in R-language is provided in the supplementary material.

A Caderneta de Saúde da Criança (CSC) é um documento imprescindível para a promoção da saúde infantil. Foi realizado um estudo transversal com amostra aleatória simples de crianças acompanhadas no Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS), visando analisar os fatores associados à qualidade do preenchimento da CSC. Foram realizadas entrevistas e verificação direta das cadernetas de 365 crianças das nove regionais de saúde de Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brasil. Foi criado um sistema de escore para classificar as CSC quanto à qualidade do seu preenchimento e relacioná-la às variáveis explicativas. O odds ratio foi calculado por regressão logística. O preenchimento dos vinte itens do escore variou de 3,1% (uso de ferruginoso) a 99,7% (data de nascimento). Os fatores associados aos piores escores foram: crianças > 12 meses de idade (OR = 1,77), mães < 6 anos de estudo (OR = 1,97), crianças não acompanhadas por médicos generalistas (OR = 3,18) e mães que não receberam explicações sobre a CSC na maternidade (OR = 1,77). Os resultados apontam a precária utilização da CSC, reforçando a necessidade de investimentos em capacitação dos profissionais e organização dos serviços para que ela cumpra seu papel na promoção da saúde infantil.

To create and validate an instrument for child development monitoring. Methodological study, based on the World Bank's proposition to monitor child development indicators in low- and middle-income countries. The stages of the study included the following: development of an inventory of items for child development evaluation, based on open access instruments; content validation by a group of experts on the topic, using consensus techniques; selection of questions to describe children and their families; pre-test of the instrument during the vaccination campaign in 2016 in three municipalities, and conducting cognitive interviews. A total of 431 items were sent for the evaluation of the specialists; 77 were initially excluded and the others were evaluated in-person by the group, with 162 items covering the motor, cognitive, language, and socio-emotional domains, distributed in ten age ranges. Questions about health, nutrition, early learning, protection and safety, and responsive care were also included. The instrument was applied by volunteer undergraduate students to 367 mothers of children under 5 years, showing good adherence of the caregivers. The time of application of the questionnaire was, on average, 20minutes. The cognitive interviews allowed the final adjustment of 19 items of the instrument for better understanding by the caregivers. The instrument created and validated by experts fills a gap, as it allows a comprehensive evaluation of the development of children under 5 years at the population level, using a fast and inexpensive tool, and can be useful for monitoring indicators of development in Brazilian children in vaccination campaigns.