Teenage girls’ brains may have aged by up to four years prematurely during the Covid pandemic, a US study suggests.
Teenage boys were not immune either, as their brains also showed signs of undue wear and tear, albeit only a year and a half apart.
Experts suggested the difference was because social restrictions during lockdown had a disproportionate impact on teenage girls.
Researchers at the University of Washington analyzed 160 MRI scans taken from a cohort of 9- to 17-year-olds in 2018 and then compared them to 130 scans taken after the pandemic, between 2021 and 2022.
They found that a process called cortical thinning (where the organ effectively rewires itself between childhood and adolescence) was much more advanced than it should be among pandemic teens.
A US study suggests that the brains of teenage girls (left) may have prematurely aged by up to four years during the Covid pandemic. Teenage boys were not immune either, as their brains also showed signs of excessive wear and tear, albeit only a year and a half later (right).
While cortical thinning occurs naturally, some studies have linked accelerated thinning with exposure to anxiety or stress and an increased risk of developing these disorders later in life.
It remains unclear whether the observed advanced weight loss is permanent or whether it will have any negative impact on the long-term health or educational aspirations of adolescents.
The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesThey also found differences in which parts of the brain were aging in boys and girls.
For example, while both sexes showed advanced aging in the part of the organ related to processing visual information, girls also experienced premature thinning of areas linked to emotions, facial interpretation and language comprehension.
All of these are key areas for facilitating effective communication.
Study author Professor Patricia Kuhl, an expert in learning and brain sciences in Washington, said researchers were surprised by the magnitude of the difference between boys and girls.
She told the The New York Times ‘A girl who arrived at age 11 and then returned to the lab at age 14 now has a brain that looks like that of an 18-year-old girl.
Professor Khul also said: Guardian She believes part of the difference reflects adolescent girls’ greater reliance on social groups compared to their male counterparts.
“Girls talk non-stop and share their emotions. They depend much more on the social environment for their well-being and for their healthy neuronal, physical and emotional development.”
She added that the findings were “a reminder of the fragility of adolescents” and suggested that parents find time to talk to their children about their experiences of the Covid pandemic.
“It’s important to invite your teenagers out for coffee, tea, a walk, to open the door to conversation. Whatever it takes to get them to open up.”
The study is the latest to suggest that the Covid pandemic, and the resulting lockdown restrictions that kept families and friends apart for months, have taken a toll on young people’s mental health.
However, some experts have cautioned against overinterpreting the study’s findings.
Among them was Dr. Bradley S. Peterson, a pediatric psychiatrist and brain researcher at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles who was not involved in the study.
She noted a number of limitations, one of which is that while the authors were interested in linking the changes to the social isolation of lockdowns, there are other possibilities, such as increased screen time and social media use and less exercise.
Dr. Peterson also said the observed thinning may not be a bad thing and could “represent nature’s adaptive response in the brain that confers greater emotional, cognitive and social resilience.”