Prenatal famine exposure and late-life functional brain network connectivity: A longitudinal study

The effects of the prenatal environment on resting-state functional connectivity in the brain can be detected up into older adulthood. We previously identified differences in resting-state functional connectivity of the default mode network (DMN), salience network (SN), and central executive network (CEN) at age 68 between men and women in the Dutch famine birth cohort who had been exposed or unexposed to famine in early gestation. Here, we investigated longitudinal changes in resting-state functional connectivity of the DMN, SN and CEN between ages 68 (n = 115) and 74 (n = 80) in the same cohort. Within- and between-network functional connectivity of the DMN, SN and CEN were compared between individuals unexposed (born before or conceived after) or exposed to famine in early gestation using a latent change score modeling approach with full information maximum likelihood estimation. No group differences were observed in baseline within-network functional connectivity (intercept; Δχ² = 1.41; p = 0.70) or rate of change (slope; Δχ² = 0.20; p = 0.98) of the DMN, SN and CEN between individuals exposed or unexposed to famine in early gestation. Given the poor fit of the between-network model including group status, differences between exposed and unexposed groups could not be explored. Across both groups, there was a significant increase in DMN connectivity over time and an increased negative functional connectivity between the DMN and SN. This study did not reveal more pronounced aging-related alterations in network connectivity among individuals exposed to famine in early gestation compared to unexposed individuals. Thereby, this study does not provide evidence for accelerated brain aging-related patterns of resting-state functional connectivity after prenatal famine exposure.