Researchers at Stanford University (USA) have found that the brains of teenagers who lived through the COVID-19 pandemic show signs of early aging and poorer mental health.
The researchers compared MRI scans of 81 teenagers in the U.S. taken before the pandemic (from November 2016 to November 2019) with brain scans of 82 teenagers during the pandemic, but after lockdown measures were lifted (data collected from October 2020 to March 2022).
After the pandemic lockdown, the group of teenagers also self-reported greater difficulties with mental health – (Photo: ORANGE COUNTY CHILD NEUROLOGY CLINIC).
After adjusting for 64 participants in each group based on factors such as age and gender, the research team discovered physical changes in the brains of adolescents.
Compared to before the pandemic, the post-lockdown teenagers exhibited a thinner cortex and greater development of the hippocampus and amygdala. This indicates that such brain development processes have accelerated. In other words, their brains appear to have aged faster.
Ian Gotlib, a professor of psychology at Stanford University and the lead researcher, stated: “The brain age difference is about three years. We did not expect such a large increase, given that the lockdown lasted less than a year.”
Writing in the journal Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science, the research team reported that the sample represents teenagers in the Bay Area of California, who agreed to participate in a study examining the impact of early-life stress on mental health during adolescence worldwide. Consequently, participants were also assessed for symptoms of depression and anxiety.
After the pandemic lockdown, the group of teenagers also self-reported greater difficulties with mental health, including symptoms of anxiety, depression, and more severe internalizing problems.
Professor Gotlib noted that these findings align with those from other researchers studying the impact of the pandemic on teenagers’ mental health.
He stated: “The decline in mental health is accompanied by physical changes in the brain for adolescents, which may be due to the stress of the pandemic.”
According to the Guardian, it is still unclear whether the poorer mental health recorded in this age group is due to faster brain aging, or even whether this is bad news for teenagers.
“We do not know that yet. The research team is beginning to scan all participants in their 20s to better understand whether these changes persist or begin to diminish over time,” Gotlib said.
In older adults, these brain changes are often associated with cognitive decline. “It remains unclear what these changes mean at the adolescent age,” Gotlib admitted.
However, this is the first evidence suggesting that mental health difficulties during the pandemic are accompanied by changes that seem related to stress in brain structure.
