Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41503274›Full record

ArticleThe Lancet regional health. Europe2026

COVID-19 public health and social measures (PHSM) and early childhood developmental concerns in Scotland: an interrupted time series analysis.

Iain Hardie, Louise Marryat, Aja Murray, Josiah King, Kenneth Okelo, Lynda Fenton, Abigail K Stevely, James P Boardman, Michael V Lombardo, Sarah J Stock and 2 more

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In one paragraph

Article in The Lancet regional health. Europe, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Iain HardieDepartment of Psychology, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Louise MarryatSchool of Health Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK.
Aja MurrayDepartment of Psychology, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Josiah KingDepartment of Psychology, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Kenneth OkeloDepartment of Psychology, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Lynda FentonPublic Health Scotland, Edinburgh and Glasgow, UK.
Abigail K StevelySheffield Addictions Research Group, School of Medicine and Population Health, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
James P BoardmanCentre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Michael V LombardoLaboratory for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Center for Neuroscience and Cognitive Systems, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Rovereto, Italy.
Sarah J StockUsher Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Rachael WoodPublic Health Scotland, Edinburgh and Glasgow, UK.
Bonnie AuyeungDepartment of Psychology, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 public health and social measures (PHSM) may have affected children's development, for example by reducing their interaction with others. We examined associations between PHSM and developmental concerns among young children in Scotland. Methods: We utilised data from routine 13-15 month and 27-30 month child health reviews, covering all children in Scotland who took part in reviews between January 2019 and August 2023 and had full developmental data. Interrupted time-series analysis assessed slope changes in the weekly proportion of children with health visitor-identified developmental concerns following the March 2020 introduction of, and August 2021 removal of, PHSM. Outcomes were any 13-15 month and 27-30 month developmental concerns, and domain-specific concerns regarding speech-language-communication, problem solving, gross motor, personal-social, emotional-behavioural and fine motor development. Findings: Weekly proportions were based on 257,532 children, covering 13-15 month review records for 186,265 children (95,506 [51.3%] male and 90,756 [48.7%] female) and 27-30 month review records for 186,766 children (95,209 [51.0%] male and 91,557 [49.0%] female). The March 2020 PHSM introduction was associated with a slope change increase in the proportion of children with any developmental concerns (+0.091 percentage points per week [95% CI: 0.065, 0.116] at 13-15 months and +0.076 percentage points per week [95% CI: 0.048, 0.104] at 27-30 months. The August 2021 PHSM removal was associated with a slope change decrease in the proportion of children with any developmental concerns at 27-30 months (-0.067 percentage points per week [95% CI: -0.088, -0.046]), but not 13-15 months, in the main analysis. Results were broadly consistent across developmental domains. Interpretation: COVID-19 PHSM were associated with increased developmental concerns among young children in Scotland. While leveraging interrupted time-series analysis yields findings consistent with a causal impact of PHSM, the influence of potential time-varying confounders cannot be ruled out. Funding: Economic and Social Research Council.

Indexed as

Child developmentCOVID-19 Public Health and Social Measures

Identifiers

PMID41503274
PMCPMC12769819

What Socratic holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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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 Socratic graph.