Effects of COVID-19 pandemic on structural brain development in early adolescence

L van Drunen; Y J Toenders; L M Wierenga; E A Crone

doi:10.1038/s41598-023-32754-7

Effects of COVID-19 pandemic on structural brain development in early adolescence

L van Drunen, Y J Toenders, L M Wierenga, E A Crone

Developmental Neuroscience in Society

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

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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.

Original language	English
Article number	5600
Pages (from-to)	1-14
Number of pages	14
Journal	Scientific Reports
Volume	13
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-32754-7
Publication status	Published - 5 Apr 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank the participating families for their enthusiastic involvement in the Leiden Consortium on Individual Development (L-CID). We are also grateful to the data-collection and data-processing team, including all current and former students, research assistants, PhD students and post-doctoral researchers for their dedicated and invaluable contributions. Marinus van IJzendoorn, Eveline Crone and Marian Bakermans-Kranenburg designed the L-CID experimental cohort-sequential twin study “Samen Uniek” as part of the Consortium on Individual Development (CID; Gravitation Grant 2013–2023 awarded by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture, & Science, and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, NWO Grant Number 024.001.003).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).

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Effects of COVID-19 pandemic on structural brain development in early adolescenceFinal published version, 1.85 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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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.",

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note = "Funding Information: We thank the participating families for their enthusiastic involvement in the Leiden Consortium on Individual Development (L-CID). We are also grateful to the data-collection and data-processing team, including all current and former students, research assistants, PhD students and post-doctoral researchers for their dedicated and invaluable contributions. Marinus van IJzendoorn, Eveline Crone and Marian Bakermans-Kranenburg designed the L-CID experimental cohort-sequential twin study “Samen Uniek” as part of the Consortium on Individual Development (CID; Gravitation Grant 2013–2023 awarded by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture, & Science, and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, NWO Grant Number 024.001.003). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023, The Author(s).",

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Effects of COVID-19 pandemic on structural brain development in early adolescence

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