A scientific study has established a possible connection between the isolation phases during the pandemic and accelerated brain maturation in children and adolescents. The researchers see this as a possible cause for the increase in mental illnesses after Corona. “RP online” reports on this.
The study, which was published in the renowned journal PNAS, now recognizes a possible connection between the increase in mental illnesses after the pandemic and faster brain maturation in children and adolescents during the lockdown phases. The scientists showed that the cerebral cortex of adolescents became thinner faster during this period than is normally the case in this developmental phase, according to “RP online”.
The fact that the cerebral cortex becomes narrower in adolescents is part of normal brain maturation. According to the scientists involved in the study, this process happened unusually quickly in the children examined. In girls, the average acceleration of brain development was 4.2 years, and in boys it was 1.4 years. According to the researchers, premature thinning of the cerebral cortex can have negative consequences. This includes an increased risk of developing neuropsychiatric and behavioral disorders.
Sofie Valk from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig criticized the study because of the small number of participants (160 children and adolescents). The direct connection between the thickness of the cerebral cortex and the mental health of children and adolescents was also not investigated.
There is already evidence of enormous psychological stress for children and young people as well as educational deficits due to the long school closures during the Corona period in Germany.
“The majority of studies conducted up to the second wave of the pandemic showed a significant deterioration in the well-being and mental health of children and adolescents,” a team of authors from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) had already noted in a rapid review in February 2023. 39 studies were evaluated for this purpose. (UK)
