The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on teenagers has been substantial. Numerous studies have documented reports of creating problems in mental health, social life, and other areas.

Recently, new research published on Monday in the journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” adds to the above negative consequences the premature aging of adolescent brains. In particular, based on the new data, the adolescent brain ages 4.2 years faster for girls and 1.4 years faster for boys on average.

This is the first study to distinguish aging differences by gender, according to CNN.

“The findings show that we need to wake up regarding the fragility of the adolescent brain,” said lead study author Dr. Patricia K. Kuhl, Bezos Family Foundation Fellow in Early Childhood Learning and co-director of the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle. “Teenagers need our support now more than ever,” he said via email.

The research findings

During adolescence, significant social-emotional development takes place. Substantial changes are also taking place in the structure and function of the brain. The thickness of the cerebral cortex naturally peaks during childhood, declines steadily during adolescence, and continues to decline throughout a person’s life, the authors wrote.

The researchers originally intended to track the teenagers’ normal brain development over time, starting with MRIs of the participants’ brains in 2018. They planned to follow them up for additional MRIs in 2020.

The pandemic led to the delay of the second MRI by three to four years, when the 130 participants based in Washington state were between 12 and 20 years old. The authors excluded adolescents who had been diagnosed with a developmental or psychiatric disorder or who were taking psychotropic medication.

The team used the pre-pandemic MRI data to create a “normative model” of how 68 brain regions are likely to develop during typical adolescence, with which they could compare the post-pandemic MRI data and see if they deviated from expectations. This normative model is analogous to the normative growth charts used in pediatric clinics to track height and weight in young children, the authors said. It has also been used by other researchers to study the effects of circumstances or conditions such as socioeconomic disadvantage, autism, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or traumatic stress.

The study revealed accelerated cortical thinning in adolescent brains after the pandemic, occurring in 30 brain regions across both hemispheres and all lobes for girls and only two regions for boys. The reduction in cortical thickness amounted to 43% and 6% of the brain regions studied for girls and boys, respectively.

Is the damage permanent? – What can you do?

Another factor researchers don’t yet know is whether these effects on the brain are permanent, Kuhl said.

“The brain doesn’t recover and it doesn’t get fatter, we know that, but one measure of whether teenagers are recovering after the pandemic is over and social normality is fully restored is whether their brains are thinning more slowly,” added Kuhl. “If that were the case, we could say that the adolescent brain showed some recovery. This is a study we can actually do in the future.”

“Ensuring that young people are supported in their mental health is critical,” Dr. Ian Gotlib, director of the Neurodevelopment, Affect, and Psychopathology Laboratory at Stanford University, said via email.

“Encourage quality time, limit social media use, and watch for behavioral changes that reflect a change in mental health or mood so you can intervene as early as possible,” said Dr. Max Wiznitzer, professor of pediatrics and neurology. at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, via email.

It’s important to recognize that while “the pandemic is largely over,” its effects remain, Gotlib said.

“A total return to “normal” may never happenKuhl said via email. “These are all powerful reminders of human frailty and the importance of investing in prevention science and preparing for the next (inevitable) pandemic.”