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Revisiting subcortical brain volume correlates of autism in the ABIDE dataset: effects of age and sex

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2017

W. Zhang ,
W. Groen ,
M. Mennes ,
C. Greven ,
J. Buitelaar  and
N. Rommelse
W. Zhang
Affiliation:
Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
W. Groen
Affiliation:
Karakter, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry University Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
M. Mennes
Affiliation:
Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
C. Greven
Affiliation:
Karakter, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry University Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
J. Buitelaar
Affiliation:
Karakter, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry University Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands Department of Psychiatry, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
N. Rommelse*
Affiliation:
Karakter, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry University Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands Department of Psychiatry, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
*
*Address for correspondence: N. Rommelse, Department of Psychiatry, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. (Email: n.lambregts-rommelse@psy.umcn.nl)
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Abstract

Background

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by substantial clinical, etiological and neurobiological heterogeneity. Despite this heterogeneity, previous imaging studies have highlighted the role of specific cortical and subcortical structures in ASD and have forwarded the notion of an ASD specific neuroanatomy in which abnormalities in brain structures are present that can be used for diagnostic classification approaches.

Method

A large (N = 859, 6–27 years, IQ 70–130) multi-center structural magnetic resonance imaging dataset was examined to specifically test ASD diagnostic effects regarding (sub)cortical volumes.

Results

Despite the large sample size, we found virtually no main effects of ASD diagnosis. Yet, several significant two- and three-way interaction effects of diagnosis by age by gender were found.

Conclusion

The neuroanatomy of ASD does not exist, but is highly age and gender dependent. Implications for approaches of stratification of ASD into more homogeneous subtypes are discussed.

Keywords

ABIDEASDbrain structureMRIneuroimagingvolume
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 48 , Issue 4 , March 2018 , pp. 654 - 668
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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