United States: A study of nearly 10,000 teens found that the brains of kids who started using substances before age 15 are different from those who didn’t. These brain differences were noticed even before any substance use, meaning they might help explain why some kids start using substances later in life. 

These differences, along with genetic, environmental, and other brain factors, could play a role in this risk. 

This contributes to some of the growing literature suggesting the possibility that a person’s brain may contribute to his or her vulnerability and protective factors regarding substance use and addiction, in addition to a person’s genes, environment, and their interaction with each other, said Nora Volkow M.D., Director, NIDA. 

As reported by the Medicalxpress, “It is important to understand the relationship that exists between the risk factors and the protective factors for drug use to be able to find ways of preventing use and supporting those vulnerable to engage in drug use.” 

If restricted to those young people who had begun substance use before attaining the age of 15, 3,460 adolescents had tried out the substances; 90.2% had tried alcohol with 61.5% of the nicotine starting and 52.4% of the cannabis started doing alcohol too. 

Substance initiation was related to global/quasi-global differences as well as more discrete structural differences predominantly with the cortex specific to certain substances. Although such data may one day assist with clinical prevention interventions, the authors stressed that brain structure could not predict substance use in adolescence, and that these data should not be diagnostically employed. 

The study conducted in JAMA Network Open, included hairy from the ABCD study the largest and longest running health study of brain development in children in the United Staills. 

Investigators from Washington University in St. Louis analyzed data from the ABCD Study and carried out MRI scans of 9,804 children all over the United States of America at the baseline age of 9-11 years and then tracked the participants for three years to investigate whether several properties of the brain structure recorded during the baseline MRI scans were related to early SSI. 

They assessed for the presence of any alcohol, nicotine and/or cannabis consumption, which are the most often used substances in early adolescence, as well as other substances.