Exploring the longitudinal associations of functional network connectivity and psychiatric symptom changes in youth

Lorenza Dall'Aglio; Fernando Estévez-López; Mónica López-Vicente; Bing Xu; Oktay Agcaoglu; Elias Boroda; Kelvin O Lim; Vince D Calhoun; Henning Tiemeier; Ryan L Muetzel

doi:10.1016/j.nicl.2023.103382

Exploring the longitudinal associations of functional network connectivity and psychiatric symptom changes in youth

Neuroimage Clin. 2023:38:103382. doi: 10.1016/j.nicl.2023.103382. Epub 2023 Mar 20.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychology and Psychiatry, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; The Generation R Study Group, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
² Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, USA.
³ Tri-institutional Center for Translational Research in Neuroimaging and Data Science (TReNDS), Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Emory University, Atlanta, USA.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA.
⁵ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychology and Psychiatry, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, USA. Electronic address: tiemeier@hsph.harvard.edu.
⁶ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychology and Psychiatry, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Abstract

Background: Functional connectivity has been associated with psychiatric problems, both in children and adults, but inconsistencies are present across studies. Prior research has mostly focused on small clinical samples with cross-sectional designs.

Methods: We adopted a longitudinal design with repeated assessments to investigate associations between functional network connectivity (FNC) and psychiatric problems in youth (9- to 17-year-olds, two time points) from the general population. The largest single-site study of pediatric neurodevelopment was used: Generation R (N = 3,131 with data at either time point). Psychiatric symptoms were measured with the Child Behavioral Checklist as broadband internalizing and externalizing problems, and its eight specific syndrome scales (e.g., anxious-depressed). FNC was assessed with two complementary approaches. First, static FNC (sFNC) was measured with graph theory-based metrics. Second, dynamic FNC (dFNC), where connectivity is allowed to vary over time, was summarized into 5 states that participants spent time in. Cross-lagged panel models were used to investigate the longitudinal bidirectional relationships of sFNC with internalizing and externalizing problems. Similar cross-lagged panel models were run for dFNC.

Results: Small longitudinal relationships between dFNC and certain syndrome scales were observed, especially for baseline syndrome scales (i.e., rule-breaking, somatic complaints, thought problems, and attention problems) predicting connectivity changes. However, no association between any of the psychiatric problems (broadband and syndrome scales) with either measure of FNC survived correction for multiple testing.

Conclusion: We found no or very modest evidence for longitudinal associations between psychiatric problems with dynamic and static FNC in this population-based sample. Differences in findings may stem from the population drawn, study design, developmental timing, and sample sizes.

Keywords: Adolescence; Brain development; Functional MRI; Longitudinal studies; Psychopathology.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Anxiety
Brain
Child
Cross-Sectional Studies
Humans
Mental Disorders* / diagnostic imaging
Nerve Net

Grants and funding

R01 MH123610/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/United States