Inhibition is associated with whole-brain structural brain connectivity on network level in school-aged children born
Vera Disselhoff1, Andras Jakab2, Barbara Schnider1
1Department of Neonatology and Pediatric Intensive Care, University Children's Hospital Zurich, Switzerland; Children's Research Center, University Children's Hospital Zurich, Switzerland.
Insights
Very preterm birth may alter brain connectivity, impacting inhibition skills in children. However, the specific brain networks affected by preterm birth do not fully explain these inhibition deficits.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Pediatrics
- Neuroimaging
Background:
- Inhibition abilities are frequently impaired in children born very preterm.
- Structural brain connectivity (SC) is linked to inhibition in typically developing individuals.
- Preterm birth often leads to altered SC, suggesting a potential link to inhibition deficits.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if aberrant structural brain connectivity (SC) underlies inhibition deficits in school-aged children born very preterm.
- To compare SC between very preterm and term-born children using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).
- To explore the association between SC and inhibition abilities in these groups.
Main Methods:
- Compared inhibition abilities in 67 very preterm and 69 term-born children (aged 8-13 years) using two tasks.
- Collected diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data from subgroups of very preterm (n=50) and term-born (n=62) participants.
- Utilized network-based statistics (NBS) to compare mean fractional anisotropy (FAmean) between groups and linear regression to explore associations with inhibition.
Main Results:
- While the very preterm group showed numerically lower inhibition scores, the difference was not statistically significant after adjusting for covariates.
- A significant difference in FAmean was found between groups in a network involving thalamo-frontal, thalamo-temporal, frontal, cerebellar, and intra-hemispheric connections, with lower FAmean in the very preterm group.
- A distinct network of parietal, cerebellar, and subcortical connections was positively associated with inhibition abilities, irrespective of birth status.
Conclusions:
- Very preterm birth is associated with long-term, network-level alterations in structural brain connectivity.
- The brain networks showing altered connectivity in very preterm children do not overlap with the networks crucial for inhibition abilities.
- Mean fractional anisotropy (FAmean) may not be sufficient to explain inhibition problems in very preterm children; further research using complementary connectivity measures is needed.
Abstract:
Inhibition abilities are often impaired in children born very preterm. In typically-developing individuals, inhibition has been associated with structural brain connectivity (SC). As SC is frequently altered following preterm birth, this study investigated whether aberrant SC underlies inhibition deficits in school-aged children born very preterm. In a group of 67 very preterm participants aged 8-13 years and 69 term-born peers, inhibition abilities were assessed with two tasks. In a subgroup of 50 very preterm and 62 term-born participants, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data were collected. Using network-based statistics (NBS), mean fractional anisotropy (FAmean) was compared between groups. Associations of FAmean and inhibition abilities were explored through linear regression. The composite score of inhibition abilities was lower in the very preterm group (M = -0.4, SD = 0.8) than in the term-born group (M = 0.0, SD = 0.8) but group differences were not significant when adjusting for age, sex and socio-economic status (β = -0.13, 95%-CI [-0.30, 0.04], p = 0.13). In the very preterm group, FAmean was significantly lower in a network comprising thalamo-frontal, thalamo-temporal, frontal, cerebellar and intra-hemispheric connections than in the term-born group (t = 5.21, lowest p-value = 0.001). Irrespective of birth status, a network comprising parietal, cerebellar and subcortical connections was positively associated with inhibition abilities (t = 4.23, lowest p-value = 0.02). Very preterm birth results in long-term alterations of SC at network-level. As networks underlying inhibition abilities do not overlap with those differing between the groups, FAmean may not be adequate to explain inhibition problems in very preterm children. Future studies should combine complementary measures of brain connectivity to address neural correlates of inhibition abilities.
