The pandemic’s negative effects on kids and teens — academically, socially and otherwise — have been shown in numerous studies, and now the latest long-term effect appears to be accelerated aging of young brains.
A team of researchers at the University of Washington studied 160 teens between the ages of 9 and 17. They had gathered data in 2018 for a different study on changes in brain structure during adolescence, but the COVID pandemic interrupted that research.
"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," lead author Neva Corrigan, Ph.D., a research scientist at the University of Washington, said in a press release.
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"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?"
The researchers found that the pandemic caused teenage brains to age faster than normal.
"The lifestyle changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns appear to have affected brain development during adolescence, causing the brain to mature much faster than is typical," Corrigan told Fox News Digital via email.
"This accelerated maturation was more widespread throughout the brain, and larger in magnitude, for females as compared to males."
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On average, the young females’ brains aged 4.2 years faster than normal, and male brains were accelerated by 1.4 years.
Thirty regions in the female brain showed accelerated aging, compared to only two regions in the male brain, researchers found.
The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Sept. 9.
The researchers believe that the accelerated brain aging was due to the stress associated with the restrictive measures taken to curb COVID’s spread, Corrigan said.
"Accelerated development of the cerebral cortex during development has been well-established by previous research to be associated with chronic stress," she noted.
This study highlights the fact that teenagers' brains are highly vulnerable to stressors in their environment, according to Corrigan.
"We recommend that parents of children who were teens during the pandemic stay connected to their teens, and also look out for signs of depression and anxiety, as accelerated cortical thinning increases the risk of developing these and other neuropsychiatric disorders," she advised.
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"We also think parents should be aware that their teens’ social lives are very important to their brain development, and [they should] encourage healthy activities with peers."
While these findings "seem alarming," Corrigan said, it’s not known whether the accelerated aging will have long-term effects on continued brain development throughout the teens' lives.
"It is not clear whether the cerebral cortex of these teens that showed accelerated maturation will return to a thickness that is more appropriate for their age with time, or whether these effects are permanent," she told Fox News Digital.
She also pointed out that "cortical thinning" is a natural process in aging and can actually allow the brain to function more efficiently.
"It is not clear that all the consequences of accelerated maturation are negative," Corrigan added.
The researchers acknowledged several limitations of the study, the first being its smaller sample size.
"Although we collected data from 160 teens prior to the lockdowns, and 130 teens after the lockdowns ended, larger samples are always better when conducting research," Corrigan told Fox News Digital.
"Also, since the study was not initially designed for the effects of the COVID pandemic, we did not collect the type of behavioral measures that would have allowed us to determine what exact lifestyle disruptions or stressors associated with the lockdowns might have been the greatest contributors to the stress experienced by the teens," she said.
The researchers also only studied a limited age range, so they couldn’t determine whether the findings apply to other ages.
"Finally, we do not know whether contraction of the COVID-19 virus itself may have contributed to these findings, although in the community from which our study sample was derived, we found no reports of a sex disparity in the contraction of the virus," Corrigan said.
Dr. Brett Osborn, a Florida neurologist, was not involved in the study, but commented on the "detrimental consequences" of pandemic-related stress for teens.
"High levels of stress, often associated with elevated cortisol, can wreak havoc on the brain," he told Fox News Digital.
Cortisol, the body's primary stress hormone, is typically released by the adrenal glands during acute stress, Osborn explained, but it can become harmful when present at high levels for prolonged periods.
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"This chronic elevation is particularly damaging to brain structures like the hippocampus (the region associated with memory) and the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for higher-level cognitive functions like decision-making and social behavior."
Long-term exposure to high cortisol levels can negatively impact memory, emotional regulation, impulse control, focus and concentration, according to Osborn.
"Over time, these changes may predispose individuals to mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety, which are already known to be exacerbated by high cortisol levels," he added.
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Overall, Osborn said, the study sheds light on "yet another downrange effect" of the COVID-19 pandemic.
