Differences in regional brain structure in toddlers with autism are related to future language outcomes.
Nat Commun
; 15(1): 5075, 2024 Jun 13.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38871689
ABSTRACT
Language and social symptoms improve with age in some autistic toddlers, but not in others, and such outcome differences are not clearly predictable from clinical scores alone. Here we aim to identify early-age brain alterations in autism that are prognostic of future language ability. Leveraging 372 longitudinal structural MRI scans from 166 autistic toddlers and 109 typical toddlers and controlling for brain size, we find that, compared to typical toddlers, autistic toddlers show differentially larger or thicker temporal and fusiform regions; smaller or thinner inferior frontal lobe and midline structures; larger callosal subregion volume; and smaller cerebellum. Most differences are replicated in an independent cohort of 75 toddlers. These brain alterations improve accuracy for predicting language outcome at 6-month follow-up beyond intake clinical and demographic variables. Temporal, fusiform, and inferior frontal alterations are related to autism symptom severity and cognitive impairments at early intake ages. Among autistic toddlers, brain alterations in social, language and face processing areas enhance the prediction of the child's future language ability.
Texto completo:
1
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Trastorno Autístico
/
Encéfalo
/
Imagen por Resonancia Magnética
Límite:
Child, preschool
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Infant
/
Male
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Nat Commun
Asunto de la revista:
BIOLOGIA
/
CIENCIA
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Estados Unidos