# PHSU Specialized Center in Health Disparities - Impact of COVID-19 on Life Experiences of Vulnerable Children and Families

> **NIH NIH U54** · PONCE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2020 · $188,389

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
SARS CoV2 is the novel coronavirus that presented in Wuhan, China on December of 2019 as a serious disease
(COVID-19) associated to a severe acute respiratory syndrome. COVID-19 has spread with unprecedented
facility around the world as a pandemic with catastrophic morbidity and mortality rates and widespread social,
psychologic, and economic distress. The most severe clinical outcomes of COVID-19, viral pneumonia, severe
acute respiratory syndrome, multiorgan failure, and neurologic disease, primarily affect high risk groups, such
as the elderly and those with co-morbidities, but critical illness can present in younger persons, including children.
Pediatric experts have also expressed concern that children are at higher risk for malnutrition, behavioral and
mental problems, child abuse and vaccine preventable diseases during this pandemic. Measures taken to
prevent transmission also cause significant distress and increase the risk for long term mental health problems
in children and adults. While all in the population are perceiving the biologic, psychological, and systemic
stressors of COVID-19, disease outcomes of the most vulnerable in society and those with health disparities are
particularly concerning. The main goal of the proposed work is to gain knowledge from “protective responses”
and resilience that vulnerable children and families from the Pediatric Outcomes of Prenatal Zika Exposure
(POPZE) study are displaying in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The POPZE children have special needs
from a previous biological insult (prenatal Zika) and their mothers and siblings are vulnerable from socio-
economic disadvantages and psychological distress. The study will pursue lessons in health equity from the life
experiences of these vulnerable children and families through two study aims, Aim 1: To describe the multilevel
stressors and needs associated to COVID-19 in a unique group of vulnerable children with prenatal Zika infection
consequences and their families, and Aim 2: To determine how COVID-19 associated stressors affect the life
experiences of vulnerable children and families and impact their health, family interactions, and quality of life. We
expect that the responses that promote resilience will constitute a repertoire of culturally competent solutions
that clinical and public health providers can use to promote the health and wellbeing of families at risk for health
disparities in the face of adversity.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10157420
- **Project number:** 3U54MD007579-35S1
- **Recipient organization:** PONCE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Richard J. Noel
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $188,389
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 1997-08-25 → 2024-02-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10157420

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10157420, PHSU Specialized Center in Health Disparities - Impact of COVID-19 on Life Experiences of Vulnerable Children and Families (3U54MD007579-35S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10157420. Licensed CC0.

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