Teenagers' brains aged faster during the pandemic

The brain of an adolescent changes as the person enters adulthood, but new evidence shows that this happened quicker than normal for teens living through the global health crisis.

Scientists at Stanford University performed brain scans on 163 children before and after the pandemic and concluded that the ageing process was accelerated in the post-lockdown group.

Study author Professor Ian Gotlib said: "We already know from global research that the pandemic has adversely affected mental health in youth, but we didn't know what, if anything, it was doing physically to their brains."

Professor Gotlib explained that it is unclear what the long-term consequences of the changes to the brain are.

He said: "If their brain remains permanently older than their chronological age, it's unclear what the outcomes will be in the future.

"For a 70- or 80-year-old, you'd expect some cognitive and memory problems based on changes in the brain, but what does it mean for a 16-year-old if their brains are aging prematurely?"

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