The COVID-19 pandemic produced dramatic changes in the daily lives of adolescents, and these changes were particularly detrimental for teens’ academic, social, and emotional development. Using brain measures (Magnetic Resonance Imaging, or MRI), I-LABS scientists studied the structure of the brain in teens ranging in age from 9 to 20 years, both before and after the pandemic. Brain maturation is measured by the thickness of the cerebral cortex, the outer layer of tissue in the brain. Cortical thickness is highest in childhood but naturally decreases with age, or thins, in everyone. It is known that chronic stress and adversity will accelerate this cortical thinning.
The new research shows that cortical thickness in teenagers, following the pandemic, was abnormally reduced when compared to the expected normal patterns of brain change. This abnormal brain maturation was seen across widespread areas of the brain. The results also showed that the cortical thinning effect was much more pronounced in females than in males. Our findings suggest that the lifestyle changes necessitated by COVID-19 altered the normal pattern of brain structure change in teenagers, producing structural alterations typically associated with chronic stress.
Read the journal article in PNAS here and the associated University of Washington press release here.
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