Berlin. According to a study, the corona pandemic has affected the brain development of children. This could be the reason for psychological problems.
The Corona pandemic with its restrictions and even lockdowns has had an impact on the brain development of children and adolescents, especially girls. mental problems The problems of many adolescents could be caused by this and be permanent. This is the conclusion reached by a study by researchers at the University of Washington (USA), which has now been published in the journal PNAS. Experts who were not involved in it criticize the study.
In 2018, scientists at the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images to document the Brain development of 160 children and adolescents between the ages of 9 and 17. Using these scans, they created a comparative model for the development of the brains of adolescents of different age groups. The brains of the same adolescents were scanned again during the pandemic in 2021 or 2022. The aim was to be able to compare the newer data with the standard modeled before Corona.
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The analysis showed that the cerebral cortex of children and adolescents developed unusually quickly during the pandemic and became thinner than is usual in this phase of development. acceleration was on average 4.2 years for girls and 1.4 years for boys. The psychological stress during the lockdown periods or the pandemic as a whole could be the cause of this.
Corona: “Study cannot provide good evidence for the claim”
According to the study authors, the so-called cortical thinning during brain development is associated with an increased risk of psychiatric and behavioral Disturbances However, the researchers did not investigate a direct connection between the thickness of the cerebral cortex and mental health.
Experts who were not involved in the study have doubts about the significance of the results. “Basically, the idea of investigating the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, or the presumed stress caused by the lockdown measures, is very interesting,” said Dr. Sofie Valk from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig to the Science Media Center (SMC). However, the study cannot Proofs provide evidence that the pandemic period, including lockdown and stress, had an effect. “The study leaves many questions unanswered and cannot substantiate its statements well,” says Valk.
According to Valk, cortical thickness is a measure of the gray matter of brain cells. “We know that this thickness develops over the lifespan. However, it is not yet clear which biological or psychological effects can be determined from the thickness of the cortex,” says Valk. According to the researcher, it is quite possible that drastic experiences or stress can influence brain development “and that these changes remain,” but the study from the University of Washington is methodologically too limited to show this.
Test group very small – “reduces trust”
Derek Hill, Professor of Medical Imaging at University College London (UK), has a similar opinion on the study. several reasons The results should not be overinterpreted: For example, the thickness of the gray matter at the edge of the brain is measured using MRI scans for the study. “These scans do not measure the number of brain cells or their connections, nor are they directly related to any brain symptoms,” Hill told the SMC. The observation of accelerated cortical thinning does not necessarily say anything about actual long-term damage to the young people.
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In addition, the total number of brain scans was manageable. In the test group, only 29 male and 25 female subjects were examined, who were divided into three Age groups At the age of 16, there were only ten males and eight females. Derek: “This relatively small number of subjects reduces the confidence that can be had in the conclusions.”
Lise Eliot, professor of neuroscience at the Stanson Toshok Center for Brain Function and Repair at Rosalind Franklin University in Illinois (USA), even calls the supposed finding that the brains of teenage girls are somehow more vulnerable than those of boys “provocative”. The data do not agree well with previous findings on this topic. Eliot: “The study does not link the changes in the brain with a deterioration in the mental health of the same participants. I do not think it is very conclusive.”
In the aftermath of the Corona pandemic, an increase in mental illnesses was observed in the population. This was due, among other things, to the lockdown measures. stark Children and young people were and are affected.
