r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Sep 09 '24

Neuroscience Covid lockdowns prematurely aged girls’ brains more than boys’, study finds. MRI scans found girls’ brains appeared 4.2 years older than expected after lockdowns, compared with 1.4 years for boys.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/sep/09/covid-lockdowns-prematurely-aged-girls-brains-more-than-boys-study-finds
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u/ttkciar Sep 09 '24 edited Sep 10 '24

It's worth pointing out that nowhere in this study do they mention filtering out or adjusting for incidences of SARS-CoV-2 infection in their subjects, and that other studies have demonstrated that cortical density loss is observed (also via MRI) after SARS-CoV-2 infection:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-52005-7

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanwpc/article/PIIS2666-6065(24)00080-4/fulltext

Given this, it seems odd to me that the researchers would jump to the conclusion that lockdown lifestyle changes (which were not even observed by many Americans) were the cause of this cortical thinning, and not SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Edited: I accidentally pasted the wrong link for the second study; sorry. The Lancet study was what I meant to link. Fixed it.

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u/mizushimo Sep 09 '24

Why would there be a gender difference if it was caused by a covid infection?

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u/The69BodyProblem Sep 09 '24

Just a theory, but men have weaker immune systems, and tend to die more from COVID, whereas women have stronger immune responses which is part of the reason why autoimmune diseases tend to affect women at higher rates. It could be that the higher immune response kept more women alive, but also harmed their brains due to a more extreme response.

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u/Grandfunk14 Sep 10 '24

Also I don't know about men in other people's orbit/family but they can be super stubborn when it comes to getting them to go get medical care. I've heard this from many friends as well about their fathers/uncles/brothers. Two of my uncles(farmers) had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the ER when they got really bad with COVID. They both recovered thankfully. I wonder if there is also something to do with men waiting far too long to get help and it just added to the problem. Women, from my experience, are far smarter in these matters.