Human Brain Resilience: A Call to Action

Ann Neurol. 2021 Sep;90(3):336-349. doi: 10.1002/ana.26157. Epub 2021 Jul 19.

Abstract

At present, resilience refers to a highly heterogeneous concept with ill-defined determinants, mechanisms, and outcomes. This call for action argues for the need to define resilience as a person-centered multidimensional metric, informed by a dynamic lifespan perspective and combining observational and interventional experimental studies to identify specific neural markers and correlated behavioral measures. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic highlights the urgent need of such an effort with the ultimate goal of defining a new vital sign, an individual index of resilience, as a life-long metric with the capacity to predict an individual's risk for disability in the face of a stressor, insult, injury, or disease. ANN NEUROL 2021;90:336-349.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Brain / physiology*
  • COVID-19 / epidemiology*
  • COVID-19 / psychology*
  • Healthy Aging / physiology*
  • Healthy Aging / psychology*
  • Humans
  • Resilience, Psychological*