The Lasting Effects of the Pandemic: A Time Series Analysis of First-time Pediatric Speech Delays

Abstract Given the profound effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the way individuals interact, we sought to understand if there was an increase in pediatric first-time speech and language delay diagnoses. We identified children under five years of age with a first-time speech delay diagnosis between January 1, 2018 and February 28, 2023, in Truveta Data. We calculated the monthly rate of first-time speech delay diagnoses per children with an encounter within the last year and no previous speech delay diagnosis. The Seasonal-Trend decomposition using LOESS (STL) method was used to adjust for seasonality. We also compared the difference in means between the 2018/2019 and 2021/2022 time periods. Significant increases in the mean of rates between 2018/2019 and 2021/2022 exist for the overall population and each age strata (p<0.001). Likely the causes of these trends are multifaceted and future research is needed to understand the specific drivers at play.