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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Am J Perinatol 2020; 37(12): 1283-1288
DOI: 10.1055/s-0040-1715839
Short Communication

Beyond the First Wave: Consequences of COVID-19 on High-Risk Infants and Families

Authors

  • Monica E. Lemmon

    1   Department of Population Health Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina
    2   Department of Pediatrics, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina

  • Ira Chapman

    3   Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia

  • William Malcolm

    2   Department of Pediatrics, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina

  • Kelli Kelley

    4   Hand to Hold, Austin, Texas

  • Richard J. Shaw

    5   Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California

  • Angelo Milazzo

    2   Department of Pediatrics, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina

  • C. Michael Cotten

    2   Department of Pediatrics, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina

  • Susan R. Hintz

    6   Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California

Funding M.E.L. is supported by the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (K23NS116453).
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Abstract

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is affecting care for high-risk newborns in ways that will likely be sustained beyond the initial pandemic response. These novel challenges present an urgent imperative to understand how COVID-19 impacts parent, family, and infant outcomes. We highlight three areas that warrant targeted attention: (1) inpatient care: visitation policies, developmental care, and communication practices; (2) outpatient care: high-risk infant follow-up and early intervention programs; and (3) parent psychosocial distress: mental health, social support, and financial toxicity. Changes to care delivery in these areas provide an opportunity to identify and implement novel strategies to provide family-centered care during COVID-19 and beyond.

Key Points

  • The COVID-19 pandemic is influencing care delivery for high-risk newborns and their families.

  • Rapid changes to care delivery are likely to be sustained beyond the initial pandemic response.

  • We have an urgent imperative to understand how COVID-19 impacts infant, parent, and family outcomes.

Keywords

family-centered care - communication - telemedicine - parent mental health


Publication History

Received: 20 July 2020

Accepted: 27 July 2020

Article published online:
10 September 2020

© 2020. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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