COVID lockdowns caused premature aging of adolescent brains

During the COVID-19 pandemic, governments worldwide implemented strict measures such as stay-at-home orders and school closures to curb the spread of the virus.

These disruptions significantly affected daily routines and social activities, and their negative impact on the mental health of adolescents has been well-documented.

Adolescence is a period marked by intense emotional, behavioral, and social development. It is a time when teenagers form their sense of identity, self-confidence, and self-control. 

The pandemic severely limited social interactions for teens, leading to increased reports of anxiety, depression, and stress, particularly among girls.

Brain aging during lockdowns 

New research from the University of Washington, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveals another profound effect of pandemic: accelerated brain maturation in adolescents, with the changes being more pronounced in girls. 

According to the study, the average acceleration in brain development was 4.2 years for females and 1.4 years for males.

“We think of the COVID-19 pandemic as a health crisis,” said Patricia Kuhl, senior author of the study and co-director of the UW Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS). “But we know that it produced other profound changes in our lives, especially for teenagers.”

Measurements of brain maturation

Researchers measure brain maturation by examining the thickness of the cerebral cortex, the brain’s outer layer of tissue. The cortex naturally thins as people age, even during the teenage years. 

Chronic stress and adversity are known to speed up this thinning, which is associated with a higher risk of developing neuropsychiatric and behavioral disorders like anxiety and depression. These disorders often emerge during adolescence, and females are at greater risk.

Brain aging impacts of pandemic lockdowns

The study began in 2018 as a long-term investigation into brain structure changes in adolescents aged 9 to 17. Initially, researchers aimed to observe typical brain development during adolescence.

However, the onset of the pandemic in 2020 delayed the follow-up tests until 2021, meaning the original goal of studying typical development was no longer feasible.

“Once the pandemic was underway, we started to think about which brain measures would allow us to estimate what the pandemic lockdown had done to the brain,” explained Neva Corrigan, lead author and research scientist at I-LABS.

“What did it mean for our teens to be at home rather than in their social groups – not at school, not playing sports, not hanging out?”

Brain aging in girls during lockdowns

Using brain scan data collected in 2018, the research team developed a model predicting the normal rate of cortical thinning in adolescence. 

When over 80% of the original participants returned for re-examinations in 2021, the researchers found a general acceleration in cortical thinning across all the teens, but this effect was much more significant in girls. 

For girls, the thinning was evident throughout the brain, across all lobes and both hemispheres. In contrast, boys only showed cortical thinning in the visual cortex.

Isolation during the pandemic 

Kuhl suggested that the more pronounced impact on girls’ brains might be tied to the importance of social interaction in female adolescence. She noted that girls tend to rely more on close relationships with peers, sharing emotions and conversations, while boys often engage in physical activities when they gather.

“Teenagers really are walking a tightrope, trying to get their lives together,” Kuhl said. “They’re under tremendous pressure. Then a global pandemic strikes and their normal channels of stress release are gone. Those release outlets aren’t there anymore, but the social criticisms and pressures remain because of social media.” 

“What the pandemic really seems to have done is to isolate girls. All teenagers got isolated, but girls suffered more. It affected their brains much more dramatically.”

Further research is needed 

Kuhl noted that the cerebral cortex is unlikely to regain its previous thickness, but there could be some recovery in the form of slower cortical thinning over time as normal social interactions resume. However, further research will be necessary to determine whether this recovery occurs.

“It is possible that there might be some recovery,” Kuhl said. “On the other hand, it’s also possible to imagine that brain maturation will remain accelerated in these teens.”

In older populations, faster thinning of the cerebral cortex is linked to declines in cognitive functions such as processing speed and the ability to complete everyday tasks. While this kind of data is not yet available for teenagers, Kuhl said it could be the focus of future research.

“The pandemic provided a test case for the fragility of teenagers’ brains. Our research introduces a new set of questions about what it means to speed up the aging process in the brain. All the best research raises profound new questions, and I think that’s what we’ve done here,” Kuhl concluded.

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