The neuropsychological functions of schoolchildren after the reopening of brazilian schools during the Covid-19 pandemic.

All children came from one public school in the Federal District, so the results may not apply to other schools, regions or socioeconomic groups. The sample included no children in economic classes A or B1 and was concentrated in classes C1 and C2, so socioeconomic variability was limited. Because local norms were unavailable, the researchers used norms from Rio Grande do Sul for public-school children aged six to eight, which may affect how scores are classified. The study measured children at one time point after school reopening and did not report a pre-pandemic baseline or non-reopening comparison group, so it cannot show that school closures caused the deficits. The significant regression models had R2 values of 0.036 and 0.042, so the family variables accounted for little of the variation in scores. The paper reports 51.28% verbal fluency alert or deficit in Table 1 and 48.72% in the Discussion, so the exact prevalence for that skill is inconsistent.

The paper states financial support from FAP-DF (149/2020); no conflict-of-interest statement is provided.

Do not conclude that school closures caused these neuropsychological deficits or that family routines and resources will improve them. The study measured children at one time point after reopening, had no pre-pandemic baseline or comparison group, used norms from another state, and the significant regression models had R2 values of 0.036 and 0.042.