COVID-19 lockdown effects on adolescent brain structure suggest accelerated maturation that is more pronounced in females than males, 2024, Corrigan+

COVID-19 lockdown effects on adolescent brain structure suggest accelerated maturation that is more pronounced in females than in males
Corrigan, Neva M.; Rokem, Ariel; Kuhl, Patricia K.

SIGNIFICANCE
We report that the lockdown measures enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in unusually accelerated brain maturation in adolescents and that this accelerated maturation was much more pronounced in females than in males. These findings indicate greater vulnerability of the female brain, as compared to the male brain, to the lifestyle changes resulting from the pandemic lockdowns. They additionally provide a potential neurophysiological mechanism for alterations in adolescent mental health and other behaviors associated with the lockdowns. Since accelerated brain maturation has been associated with increased risk for the development of neuropsychiatric and behavioral disorders, these findings highlight the importance of providing ongoing monitoring and support to individuals who were adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABSTRACT
Adolescence is a period of substantial social–emotional development, accompanied by dramatic changes to brain structure and function. Social isolation due to lockdowns that were imposed because of the COVID-19 pandemic had a detrimental impact on adolescent mental health, with the mental health of females more affected than males. We assessed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns on adolescent brain structure with a focus on sex differences. We collected MRI structural data longitudinally from adolescents prior to and after the pandemic lockdowns. The pre-COVID data were used to create a normative model of cortical thickness change with age during typical adolescent development. Cortical thickness values in the post-COVID data were compared to this normative model. The analysis revealed accelerated cortical thinning in the post-COVID brain, which was more widespread throughout the brain and greater in magnitude in females than in males. When measured in terms of equivalent years of development, the mean acceleration was found to be 4.2 y in females and 1.4 y in males. Accelerated brain maturation as a result of chronic stress or adversity during development has been well documented. These findings suggest that the lifestyle disruptions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns caused changes in brain biology and had a more severe impact on the female than the male brain.

Link | PDF (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) [Open Access]

 

No attempt to control for actual Covid infection. Totes the lockdowns.

And an implicit assumption that infection would affect brain development equally between the sexes.

 

This papers sent shivers down my spine, twofold. First in what they found. But second how the "researchers" explain their findings.
Maturation it is called here and when it is researched in adults it is called senscense.

Maybe @dave30th could dive into this? How not to jump to conclusions.

As you pointed out "no attempt to control for actual Covid infection". How awful!! Lockdown without Covid?

 

I see the project was funded by Bezos. Maybe the effects were due to the dysfunctionality of the online world?

 

Too brain-fogged to read it thoroughly but looks like the validation consisted of a subset of the study population? That's unusual.

Also this jumped out at me:

Even if the early-life-adversities research is robust the adversities documented seem to be of a completely different order: abuse, neglect, violence. You can't generalise from that & compare it to living through a pandemic.

And as has been mentioned obviously no control for the effects of COVID itself - or for many other potential confounders.

 

The pandemic experience was very different for different people.

 

I've just been looking around to see if there has been any criticism of the study or its methodology & this came up (from the SMC, of all places). Some interesting commentary:

https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/...t-brain-structure-over-the-covid-19-pandemic/

 

This will be used as evidence not to close schools in the next pandemic, which will cost lives. Really really irresponsible.

Not surprised it was funded by Bezos considering our corporate overlords maniacal desire for pre covid levels of consumption. It's a shame about all the human beings that are being sacrificed on this altar but oh well, more grist for the Amazon mill.

 

This is impressive propaganda with a blatantly clickbait title optimized for media headlines. The editors know what they're doing here. It doesn't even come close to being a serious study. Things have gotten so bad in academia that peer-reviewed research published in a high impact journal offers about the same level of validity as a random blog.

It's been a race to the bottom going on for a long time, and the bottom has won the race.

 

https://twitter.com/user/status/1833449530299486495



Not every study needs to be shared. This is an excellent example of one.