Archival ReportA Preliminary Longitudinal Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study of Brain Volume and Cortical Thickness in Autism
Section snippets
Participants
Thirty-four children and adolescents (autism, n = 18; control, n = 16) were selected from an original sample of 40 who met inclusion and exclusion criteria. One individual with autism was not willing to be part of the procedures at follow-up because of the discomfort he experienced during the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning. Three individuals with autism were excluded because they did not have good quality scans at either baseline or follow-up. Two control subjects were not able to
Results
No differences were observed between participants with autism and the control group on any of the demographic characteristics except for FSIQ (Table 1). Previously published baseline data from a subsample of this group revealed an increase in CT in children with autism when compared with control subjects (17). Changes over time were examined and differences in gray matter volumes were observed (Δ = Time 02 − Time 01) with significantly more decrease in gray matter volume in the autism group
Discussion
In this longitudinal investigation, we measured developmental changes in brain volume and in CT in a group of children aged 8–12 years with autism compared with sex and age group-matched healthy control subjects. A decrease in gray matter volume was observed over time and appeared to be related, at least partially, to a decrease in CT. Associations between developmental changes in CT and several clinical features were also observed. However, most of the significant findings disappeared when
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