Brains of teenage girls ‘aged’ faster than boys during pandemic, says study

The brain of teenage girls may have aged more rapidly than boys during Covid lockdowns, suggesting the lack of socialization may have impacted the brains of both genders in a disproportionate way.
In a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle while comparing the MRI scans of teenagers‘ pre and post lockdown brains found that the girls’ brains appeared on an average 4.2 years more than expected after lockdowns, compared with 1.4 years older for boys of the same age groups, raising concerns about the future impact on their learning and development.
“We were shocked by these data, that the difference is so dramatic,” Prof Patricia Kuhlco-director of the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences at the University of Washington, in Seattle, was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

The researchers in 2018 had acquired MRI scans from 160 9-17 year-olds in 2018 and had used them to study how the brain’s cortex normally thinned during school years. It is to be noted that some cortical thinning is natural and crucial for brain maturation and specialisation in adolescence.
Post the lockdown, the researchers collected MRI in 2021 and 2022 from the same participants in the age group of 12 to 16. It was surprisingly found out that as against increased cortical thinning in one area of the boys’ brains, 30 areas of girls’ brain showed cortical thinning, across both hemispheres and lobes.

Girls vs boys: How pandemic lockdowns affected their brains

While the accelerated ageing in a brain region linked to vision, potentially affecting the processing of faces was reported in both boys and girls, in females brain changes were across different brain regions. Some affected areas were related to social cognition that played a role in processing emotions, while others were related to interpreting facial expressions and comprehending language, which the researchers said were critical for communication.

What may have aged the brain of girls more

Kuhl said girls may be more dependent on social life for their well-being compared to boys. “Girls chat endlessly and share their emotions,” she said. “They are much more dependent [than boys] on the social scene for their wellbeing and for their healthy neural, physical and emotional development.”
Kuhl noted that premature cortical thinning could be linked to early life adversity and an increased risk of neuropsychiatric disorders.
(Images courtesy: iStock, AP)