Effects of COVID-19 pandemic on structural brain development in early adolescence.
Sci Rep
; 13(1): 5600, 2023 04 05.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2285147
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic caused a global health crisis with large behavioral effects and serious stress and social consequences. Particularly, teenagers suffered pandemic-related social restrictions including school closures. This study examined whether and how structural brain development was influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic and whether pandemic length was associated with accumulating or resilience effects of brain development. We investigated structural changes in social brain regions (medial prefrontal cortex mPFC; temporoparietal junction TPJ) as well as the stress-related hippocampus and amygdala, using a longitudinal design of 2 MRI waves. We selected two age-matched subgroups (9-13 years old), one was tested before (n = 114) and the other during (peri-pandemic group, n = 204) the COVID-19 pandemic. Results indicated that teenagers in the peri-pandemic group showed accelerated development in the mPFC and hippocampus compared to the before-pandemic group. Furthermore, TPJ growth showed immediate effects followed by possibly subsequent recovery effects that returned to a typical developmental pattern. No effects were observed for the amygdala. The findings of this region-of-interest study suggest that experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic measures had accelerating effects on hippocampus and mPFC development but the TPJ showed resilience to negative effects. Follow-up MRI assessments are needed to test acceleration and recovery effects over longer periods.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Prefrontal Cortex
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Child
/
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Sci Rep
Year:
2023
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S41598-023-32754-7
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