Young females may have experienced significant brain changes as a result of disruptions of social life caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report in PNAS.
An analysis of MRI images taken before and after the pandemic revealed accelerated thinning in regions of the frontal cortex among a sample of children and adolescents. This thinning was observed in both sexes but was more widespread and of greater magnitude in females.
“As accelerated cortical thinning during brain development is associated with increased risk in the development of neuropsychiatric and behavioral disorders, the findings from this study highlight the importance of providing ongoing monitoring and support to adolescents who experienced the pandemic lockdowns,” wrote Patricia Kuhl, Ph.D., and colleagues at the University of Washington.
The researchers collected MRI data in 2018 from 160 Seattle-area adolescents aged 9, 11, 13, 15, and 17; none of the adolescents had a diagnosis of a developmental or psychiatric disorder or were taking psychotropic medication. The authors collected MRI data again in 2021 and early 2022 from 130 of these youths, now aged 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20.
Kuhl and colleagues used a subset of the pre-COVID-19 MRI data to model the expected change in cortical thickness between the ages of 9 and 17. They then compared this model of normal change over time to the observed cortical thinning of 54 participants who were 12, 14, or 16 during the second MRI scan and whose baseline scans were not used to generate the model.
The comparison revealed widespread cortical thinning throughout the female brain in post-COVID-19 scans, occurring in 30 brain regions associated with social cognition; in males, thinning was limited to two brain regions associated with visual processing of faces. Among females, the magnitude of accelerated thinning was equal to 4.2 years of aging, compared with 1.4 years in males.
The authors noted that accelerated brain development has long been associated with social stress such as deprivation and neglect; they suggested that, for females, peer relationships are vital for the development of self-identity because they rely on these relationships for emotional support more than males. “The effect of the resulting isolation on the needs of male and female adolescents may have been very different, with females perhaps experiencing more stress than males associated with this prolonged isolation,” they wrote.
Kuhl and colleagues concluded: “…[T]hese findings add evidence for the necessity of new public health campaigns to provide support for adolescents and young adults struggling with mental health challenges, as the pandemic lockdowns dramatically increased the incidence of these types of disorders.”
For related information, see the Psychiatric News article “After the Pandemic, What Will the ‘New Normal’ Be in Psychiatry?”
(Image: Getty Images/iStock/AnnaStills)
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