The impact of COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns on maternal mental health and child developmental outcomes in the Born in Bradford?s Better Start (BiBBS) cohort.

COVID-19 lockdowns caused disruption to early years services and home life in general, but their effect on very young children’s outcomes (before school-entry) are only just emerging as children reach an age where routinely collected data is available. Current research suggests the impact of lockdowns was most severe for those from socioeconomically deprived families, and/or minority ethnic backgrounds. BiBBS is a birth cohort comprising of predominantly socioeconomically deprived, minority ethnic families. The current proposal will examine the impact of pregnancy during COVID-19 lockdowns on BiBBS’ children’s outcomes using routinely collected data at age 2.5 years and whether this was mediated through the impact of COVID-19 lockdown periods on maternal perinatal mental health. Please note that this proposal covers “proof-of-concept” (i.e. preliminary analyses) for BiBBS future grants, and also part of the formal work package for BiBBS as data becomes available.