Landmark study of adolescent brain development renews for additional seven years
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
Landmark study of adolescent brain development renews for additional seven years
With nearly $290M of new funding for seven years to research institutions around the country, the ľֱ renewed its commitment to the , the largest long-term study of brain development and child health ever conducted in the United States.
Launched in 2015, ABCD is following 11,750 children, including 2,100 who are twins or triplets, for at least 10 years starting at ages 9 to10. The new awards continue funding for a and at the University of California, San Diego, as well as the research project sites where children are assessed.
“The next phase of the ABCD study will help us understand the effects of substance use, as well as environmental, social, genetic, and other biological factors on the developing adolescent brain,” said NIDA Director Nora D. Volkow, M.D. “Since the participants are now in their vulnerable middle school years or are beginning high school, this is a critical time to learn more about what enhances or disrupts a young person’s life trajectory.”
Scientists are documenting exposures to drugs (including nicotine, alcohol, and marijuana), screen time activities, sleep patterns, engagement in sports and arts, among other variables, that may affect brain development, cognitive skills, mental health, and many other outcomes. The young participants undergo interviews and behavioral assessments once or twice a year, with physiological measures (e.g., blood pressure, cholesterol) of cardiovascular health and neuroimaging of brain structure and function every two years.
While the project is designed to answer long-held questions about the development of the teenage brain through the entire period of adolescence and beyond, the study has already released two sets of anonymized high-quality baseline data to the broader research community via the to enable both ABCD investigators and non-ABCD researchers to pursue their own research questions. The data—so far more than 140 terabytes—include basic participant demographics, assessments of physical and mental health, substance use, culture and environment, and neurocognition, tabulated structural and functional neuroimaging data, and minimally processed brain images. The comprehensive dataset, which is disaggregated by sex, racial/ethnic group, and socioeconomic status, allows researchers to address numerous questions that may ultimately inform health decisions and policies related to education, nutrition, physical activity, sleep, and prevention of substance use and mental illness.
So far, 32 research papers have been published using these data, with 11 from investigators not involved in the ABCD study. These analyses have led to a better understanding of the association between certain traits and experiences in adolescence (e.g., sleep, body mass index, family conflict, screen time) and brain physiology and other outcomes, such as cognitive ability and mental illness (e.g., depression and suicide). While most of these research projects have only looked at associations at a single point in time, data that will be collected over time will allow scientists to examine the developmental trajectories of individuals and how they are affected by many of the factors mentioned above—including genetics.
Additional data will be released this summer that includes the six month and one-year follow up for the full cohort and other interim data. The data will be made available through the , which can be accessed by researchers who obtain a free
The ABCD Study, like many other research projects, is adapting to the restrictions necessary to address COVID-19. Scientists will conduct virtual assessments as long as needed so that valuable data will not be lost, and participant health and safety will be ensured. It is crucial that researchers stay in contact with ABCD families throughout this period and resume comprehensive data collection when it is over to understand the factors that influence long-term developmental trajectories.
and the can be found online. The ABCD Study was initiated by the (CRAN), a consortium of institutes that include a focus on addiction research. CRAN comprises , the Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the . Other NIH collaborators in this project are the , the , the , the ; the , the , the , and the , with additional partnerships with the National Institute of Justice, the CDC Division of Violence Prevention, the National Science Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is a component of the ľֱ, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIDA supports most of the world’s research on the health aspects of drug abuse and addiction. The Institute carries out a large variety of programs to inform policy and improve practice. Fact sheets on the health effects of drugs of abuse and information on NIDA research and other activities can be found at , which is compatible with your smartphone, iPad or tablet. To order publications in English or Spanish, call NIDA’s DrugPubs research dissemination center at 1-877-NIDA-NIH or 240-645-0228 (TDD) or email requests to drugpubs@nida.nih.gov. Online ordering is available at . NIDA’s media guide can be found at , and its easy-to-read website can be found at .
About the ľֱ (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
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