Summary: New research from the University of Washington found that the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated brain maturation in adolescents, especially girls, with significant cortical thinning linked to increased mental health risks, raising concerns about long-term effects on teenage brain development.
Key Takeaways
- Accelerated Brain Maturation: The COVID-19 pandemic significantly accelerated brain maturation in adolescents, especially in girls, with an average acceleration of 4.2 years in females compared to 1.4 years in males.
- Cortical Thinning: The accelerated maturation, measured by cortical thinning, is associated with an increased risk of neuropsychiatric disorders like anxiety and depression, particularly affecting females across all brain lobes, while in males it was mostly limited to the visual cortex.
- Long-term Effects Uncertain: While there might be potential for recovery as social interactions normalize, it remains unclear if brain maturation will slow down or if these accelerated changes will have lasting effects.
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, measures like stay-at-home orders and school closures disrupted daily life, negatively impacting adolescents’ mental health, particularly girls. Adolescence is marked by significant emotional and social development, and the reduction in social interaction led to higher rates of anxiety and depression.
Pandemic Hastened Cortical Thinning
New research from the University of Washington, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that the pandemic also accelerated brain maturation in adolescents, more significantly in girls. The mean acceleration was 4.2 years in females and 1.4 years in males.
“We think of the COVID-19 pandemic as a health crisis,” says Patricia Kuhl, senior author and co-director of the UW Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS), “but we know that it produced other profound changes in our lives, especially for teenagers.”
Brain maturation, measured by the thinning of the cerebral cortex, is associated with increased risk for neuropsychiatric disorders like anxiety and depression. Using pre-pandemic data from 2018, researchers compared brain scans from before and after the pandemic and found accelerated cortical thinning, especially in females. In girls, thinning occurred throughout all brain lobes, while in boys, it was limited to the visual cortex.
“The field has been focusing on anesthetic effects in the thalamus and cortex for more than two decades—I believe this study significantly advances the neurobiology,” says George Mashour, MD, PhD.
Pandemic Isolation Hit Teen Girls Hardest
Kuhl notes that the pandemic’s social isolation particularly impacted girls. “Teenagers really are walking a tightrope, trying to get their lives together. They’re under tremendous pressure. Then a global pandemic strikes, and their normal channels of stress release are gone… What the pandemic really seems to have done is to isolate girls. All teenagers got isolated, but girls suffered more. It affected their brains much more dramatically.”
While it’s unlikely the cerebral cortex will thicken again, Kuhl suggests there might be slower thinning over time with the return of normal social interactions. “It is possible that there might be some recovery,” Kuhl says. “On the other hand, it’s also possible to imagine that brain maturation will remain accelerated in these teens.”
“The pandemic provided a test case for the fragility of teenagers’ brains,” Kuhl adds. “Our research introduces a new set of questions about what it means to speed up the aging process in the brain. All the best research raises profound new questions, and I think that’s what we’ve done here.”
