Brains of teenagers, who have lived through the successive Covid-19 lockdown, are showing early signs of ageing, according to a new study. The study, published in the journal Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science, suggest that 바카라pandemic-related stressors have physically aged brains of adolescents바카라.
The researchers behind the study suggest that the physical changes such as thinning of the cortex, and growth of the hippocampus and amygdala, which happened in adolescence, became more significant after the post-pandemic, concluding that the brains have aged faster.
What happens to the brain in the early teenage?
During puberty and early teenage years, kids바카라 bodies experience increased growth in both the hippocampus and the amygdala, areas of the brain that respectively control access to certain memories and help to modulate emotions. At the same time, tissues in the cortex, an area involved in executive functioning, become thinner.
How is mental health related to early changes in the brain?
Changes in brain structure occur naturally as we age.
However, the new findings indicate that the neurological and mental health effects of the pandemic on adolescents may have been even worse.
바카라We already know from global research that the pandemic has adversely affected mental health in youth, but we didn바카라t know what, if anything, it was doing physically to their brains,바카라 said first author on the paper, Ian Gotlib, Stanford University.
Until now, these sorts of accelerated changes in 바카라brain age바카라 have appeared only in children who have experienced chronic adversity, whether from violence, neglect, family dysfunction, or a combination of multiple factors.
Although those experiences are linked to poor mental health outcomes later in life, it is unclear whether the changes in brain structure that the Stanford team observed are linked to changes in mental health, Gotlib noted.
바카라For a 70- or 80-year-old, you바카라d expect some cognitive and memory problems based on changes in the brain, but what does it mean for a 16-year-old if their brains are aging prematurely?바카라 said Gotlib.
바카라Adolescence is already a period of rapid reorganization in the brain, and it바카라s already linked to increased rates of mental health problems, depression, and risk-taking behavior,바카라 said co-author Jonas Miller, University of Connecticut, US.
Are these changes permanent?
바카라It바카라s also not clear if the changes are permanent,바카라 said Gotlib, who is also the director of the Stanford Neurodevelopment, Affect, and Psychopathology (SNAP) Laboratory at Stanford University.
바카라Will their chronological age eventually catch up to their 바카라brain age바카라? If their brain remains permanently older than their chronological age, it바카라s unclear what the outcomes will be in the future.
How was the study conducted?
By comparing MRI scans from a cohort of 163 children taken before and during the pandemic, Gotlib바카라s study showed that this developmental process sped up in adolescents as they experienced the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Before the pandemic, his lab had recruited a cohort of children and adolescents from around the San Francisco Bay Area to participate in a long-term study on depression during puberty 바카라 but when the pandemic hit, he could not conduct regularly-scheduled MRI scans on those youth, the study said.
바카라Then, nine months later, we had a hard restart,바카라 Gotlib said.
Once Gotlib could continue brain scans from his cohort, the study was a year behind schedule. Under normal circumstances, it would be possible to statistically correct for the delay while analyzing the study바카라s data 바카라 but the pandemic was far from a normal event.
바카라That technique only works if you assume the brains of 16-year-olds today are the same as the brains of 16-year-olds before the pandemic with respect to cortical thickness and hippocampal and amygdala volume,바카라 Gotlib said.
바카라After looking at our data, we realized that they바카라re not. Compared to adolescents assessed before the pandemic, adolescents assessed after the pandemic shutdowns not only had more severe internalizing mental health problems, but also had reduced cortical thickness, larger hippocampal and amygdala volume, and more advanced brain age,바카라 said Gotlib.
What implications does the study have?
Originally, Gotlib explained, his study was not designed to look at the impact of COVID-19 on brain structure.
These findings could have major implications for other longitudinal studies that have spanned the pandemic. If kids who experienced the pandemic show accelerated development in their brains, scientists will have to account for that abnormal rate of growth in any future research involving this generation, said the study.
바카라The pandemic is a global phenomenon 바카라 there바카라s no one who hasn바카라t experienced it,바카라 said Gotlib. 바카라There바카라s no real control group.바카라 These findings might also have serious consequences for an entire generation of adolescents later in life, added Miller.
바카라Now you have this global event that바카라s happening, where everyone is experiencing some kind of adversity in the form of disruption to their daily routines 바카라 so it might be the case that the brains of kids who are 16 or 17 today are not comparable to those of their counterparts just a few years ago,바카라 said Miller.
(with PTI inputs)
