Stress related to the coronavirus pandemic upheavals likely prematurely aged teenagers’ brains by several years, according to a new study.
Researchers from Stanford University found that stress induced by pandemic disruptions, from school closures to social restrictions, accelerated brain development in teenagers 15 to 18 years old by at least three to four years compared to their peers prior to the pandemic.
MORE THAN 6 MILLION PEOPLE HAVE ALREADY GOTTEN THE FLU THIS SEASON: CDC
“We already know from global research that the pandemic has adversely affected mental health in youth, but we didn’t know what, if anything, it was doing physically to their brains,” said Ian Gotlib, an author of the study published in the journal Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science.
Researchers compared MRI scans taken from 163 teenagers before and during the pandemic that showed sped-up signs of aging for those taken during the pandemic, which is typically only observed in teenagers who experience violence or neglect.
The scans showed that teenagers during the pandemic had structural changes in their brain, such as larger hippocampi, which are responsible for learning and memory.
Researchers said it’s unclear if the changes are permanent and what that could mean for teenagers that grew up during the pandemic later in life.
“Will their chronological age eventually catch up to their ‘brain age’? If their brain remains permanently older than their chronological age, it’s unclear what the outcomes will be in the future. For a 70- or 80-year-old, you’d 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?” Gotlib remarked.
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Previous studies have indicated that the pandemic adversely affected children’s mental health. More than a third of high school students reported poor mental health during the pandemic, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey.
