Altered Brain Developmental Trajectories in Adolescents After Initiating Drinking.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

The authors sought evidence for altered adolescent brain growth trajectory associated with moderate and heavy alcohol use in a large national, multisite, prospective study of adolescents before and after initiation of appreciable alcohol use.

Method

This study examined 483 adolescents (ages 12-21) before initiation of drinking and 1 and 2 years later. At the 2-year assessment, 356 participants continued to meet the study's no/low alcohol consumption entry criteria, 65 had initiated moderate drinking, and 62 had initiated heavy drinking. MRI was used to quantify regional cortical and white matter volumes. Percent change per year (slopes) in adolescents who continued to meet no/low criteria served as developmental control trajectories against which to compare those w

SUBMITTER: Pfefferbaum A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6504929 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature