Teenage girls’ brains may have prematurely aged by up to four years during the Covid pandemic, an American study suggests.
Adolescent boys weren’t immune either with their brain’s also showing signs of undue wear and tear, albeit by only one-and-a-half years.
Experts suggested the difference was due to lockdown‘s social restrictions having a disproportionate impact on teenage girls.
Researchers from the University of Washington looked at 160 MRI scans taken from a cohort of 9-to-17-year-olds collected in 2018, and then compared these to scans to 130 taken post-pandemic, 2021-2022.
They found a process called cortical thinning — where the organ effectively rewires itself between childhood and adolescence — was far more advanced than it should be amongst pandemic teens.
Teenage girls’ brains (left) may have prematurely aged by up to four years during the Covid pandemic, an American study suggests. Adolescent boys weren’t immune either with their brain’s also showing signs of undue wear and tear, albeit by only one-and-a-half years (right)
Whilst cortical thinning does occur naturally some studies have linked accelerated thinning to being exposed to anxiety or stress and greater risk of developing these disorders in life.
It’s not yet clear if the observed advanced thinning is permanent or if it will have any negative impact on teenagers’ long-term health or educational aspirations.
The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also found differences in which parts of the brain were ageing in boys and girls.
For example, while both sexes had advanced ageing in the part of the organ related to processing visual information, girls also saw premature thinning of areas linked to emotions, interpreting faces and understanding language.
These are all areas critical to facilitating effective communication.
Study author Professor Patricia Kuhl, an expert in learning and brain sciences at Washington, said researchers had been shocked at the extent of the difference between boys and girls.
She told the New York Times ‘a girl who came in at 11, and then returned to the lab at age 14, now has a brain that looks like an 18-year-old’s;.
Professor Khul also told the Guardian that she believes part of the difference reflects teenage girls’ greater reliance on social groups than their male counterparts.
‘Girls chat endlessly and share their emotions. They are much more dependent on the social scene for their wellbeing and for their healthy neural, physical and emotional development.’
She added the findings were ‘reminder of the fragility of teens’ and suggested parents find the time to talk to their children about their experiences of the Covid pandemic.
‘It’s important they invite their teens for a coffee, for a tea, for a walk, to open the door to conversation. Whatever it takes to get them to open up.’
The study is the latest to suggest the Covid pandemic, and by extent the lockdown restrictions that separated family and friends for months, took a toll on young’s people’s mental health.
However, some experts have cautioned against the over-interpretation of the study’s findings.
Dr Bradley S. Peterson, a peadiatric psychiatrist and brain researcher at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, who was not involved in the study was among these.
He noted a number of limitations, one of which is that though the authors were keen to link the changes to the social isolation of lockdowns other possibilities exist such as increased screen-time and use of social media and less exercise.
Dr Peterson also said that the observed thinning may not be a bad thing and it could ‘represent nature’s adaptive response in the brain that conferred greater emotional, cognitive and social resilience’.
News
The Brain’s Strange Way of Computing Could Explain Consciousness
Consciousness may emerge not from code, but from the way living brains physically compute. Discussions about consciousness often stall between two deeply rooted viewpoints. One is computational functionalism, which holds that cognition can be [...]
First breathing ‘lung-on-chip’ developed using genetically identical cells
Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute and AlveoliX have developed the first human lung-on-chip model using stem cells taken from only one person. These chips simulate breathing motions and lung disease in an individual, [...]
Cell Membranes May Act Like Tiny Power Generators
Living cells may generate electricity through the natural motion of their membranes. These fast electrical signals could play a role in how cells communicate and sense their surroundings. Scientists have proposed a new theoretical [...]
This Viral RNA Structure Could Lead to a Universal Antiviral Drug
Researchers identify a shared RNA-protein interaction that could lead to broad-spectrum antiviral treatments for enteroviruses. A new study from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), published in Nature Communications, explains how enteroviruses begin reproducing [...]
New study suggests a way to rejuvenate the immune system
Stimulating the liver to produce some of the signals of the thymus can reverse age-related declines in T-cell populations and enhance response to vaccination. As people age, their immune system function declines. T cell [...]
Nerve Damage Can Disrupt Immunity Across the Entire Body
A single nerve injury can quietly reshape the immune system across the entire body. Preclinical research from McGill University suggests that nerve injuries may lead to long-lasting changes in the immune system, and these [...]
Fake Science Is Growing Faster Than Legitimate Research, New Study Warns
New research reveals organized networks linking paper mills, intermediaries, and compromised academic journals Organized scientific fraud is becoming increasingly common, ranging from fabricated research to the buying and selling of authorship and citations, according [...]
Scientists Unlock a New Way to Hear the Brain’s Hidden Language
Scientists can finally hear the brain’s quietest messages—unlocking the hidden code behind how neurons think, decide, and remember. Scientists have created a new protein that can capture the incoming chemical signals received by brain [...]
Does being infected or vaccinated first influence COVID-19 immunity?
A new study analyzing the immune response to COVID-19 in a Catalan cohort of health workers sheds light on an important question: does it matter whether a person was first infected or first vaccinated? [...]
We May Never Know if AI Is Conscious, Says Cambridge Philosopher
As claims about conscious AI grow louder, a Cambridge philosopher argues that we lack the evidence to know whether machines can truly be conscious, let alone morally significant. A philosopher at the University of [...]
AI Helped Scientists Stop a Virus With One Tiny Change
Using AI, researchers identified one tiny molecular interaction that viruses need to infect cells. Disrupting it stopped the virus before infection could begin. Washington State University scientists have uncovered a method to interfere with a key [...]
Deadly Hospital Fungus May Finally Have a Weakness
A deadly, drug-resistant hospital fungus may finally have a weakness—and scientists think they’ve found it. Researchers have identified a genetic process that could open the door to new treatments for a dangerous fungal infection [...]
Fever-Proof Bird Flu Variant Could Fuel the Next Pandemic
Bird flu viruses present a significant risk to humans because they can continue replicating at temperatures higher than a typical fever. Fever is one of the body’s main tools for slowing or stopping viral [...]
What could the future of nanoscience look like?
Society has a lot to thank for nanoscience. From improved health monitoring to reducing the size of electronics, scientists’ ability to delve deeper and better understand chemistry at the nanoscale has opened up numerous [...]
Scientists Melt Cancer’s Hidden “Power Hubs” and Stop Tumor Growth
Researchers discovered that in a rare kidney cancer, RNA builds droplet-like hubs that act as growth control centers inside tumor cells. By engineering a molecular switch to dissolve these hubs, they were able to halt cancer [...]
Platelet-inspired nanoparticles could improve treatment of inflammatory diseases
Scientists have developed platelet-inspired nanoparticles that deliver anti-inflammatory drugs directly to brain-computer interface implants, doubling their effectiveness. Scientists have found a way to improve the performance of brain-computer interface (BCI) electrodes by delivering anti-inflammatory drugs directly [...]
