Examination of the association between exposure to childhood maltreatment and brain structure in young adults: a machine learning analysis

Matthew Price¹, Matthew Albaugh², Sage Hahn², Anthony C Juliano², Negar Fani³, Zoe M F Brier⁴, Alison C Legrand⁴, Katherine van Stolk-Cooke⁴, Bader Chaarani², Alexandra Potter², Kelly Peck^{2

5}, Nicholas Allgaier², Tobias Banaschewski⁶, Arun L W Bokde⁷, Erin Burke Quinlan⁸, Sylvane Desrivières⁹, Herta Flor^{10

11}, Antoine Grigis¹², Penny Gowland¹³, Andreas Heinz¹⁴, Bernd Ittermann¹⁵, Jean-Luc Martinot^{16

17}, Marie-Laure Paillère^{16

17

18}, Eric Artiges^{16

17

19}, Frauke Nees^{6

7

20}, Dimitri Papadopoulos Orfanos¹², Luise Poustka²¹, Sarah Hohmann⁶, Juliane H Fröhner²², Michael N Smolka²², Henrik Walter¹⁴, Robert Whelan²³, Gunter Schumann^{9

24

25

26}, Hugh Garavan²

Affiliations

¹ Center for Research on Emotion Stress and Technology, Department of Psychological Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA. Matthew.Price@uvm.edu.
² Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA.
³ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
⁴ Center for Research on Emotion Stress and Technology, Department of Psychological Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA.
⁵ Vermont Center on Behavior and Health, Burlington, VT, USA.
⁶ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany.
⁷ Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
⁸ Discipline of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
⁹ Centre for Population Neuroscience and Precision Medicine (PONS), Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, SGDP Centre, King's College London, London, UK.
¹⁰ Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany.
¹¹ Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany.
¹² NeuroSpin, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
¹³ Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, UK.
¹⁴ Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy CCM, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany.
¹⁵ Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Braunschweig, Germany.
¹⁶ Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, INSERM U A10 "Trajectoires développementales en psychiatrie", Paris, France.
¹⁷ Université Paris-Saclay, Ecole Normale supérieure Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Centre Borelli, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
¹⁸ AP-HP.Sorbonne Université, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France.
¹⁹ Psychiatry Department 91G16, Orsay Hospital, Orsay, France.
²⁰ Institute of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, University Medical Center Schleswig Holstein, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany.
²¹ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Centre Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
²² Department of Psychiatry and Neuroimaging Center, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
²³ School of Psychology and Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
²⁴ PONS Research Group, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Campus Charite Mitte, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.
²⁵ Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany.
²⁶ Institute for Science and Technology of Brain-inspired Intelligence (ISTBI), Fudan University, Shanghai, PR China.

PMID: 33637836
PMCID: PMC8429761
DOI: 10.1038/s41386-021-00987-7

Examination of the association between exposure to childhood maltreatment and brain structure in young adults: a machine learning analysis

Matthew Price et al. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2021 Oct.

. 2021 Oct;46(11):1888-1894.

doi: 10.1038/s41386-021-00987-7. Epub 2021 Feb 26.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Center for Research on Emotion Stress and Technology, Department of Psychological Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA. Matthew.Price@uvm.edu.
² Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA.
³ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
⁴ Center for Research on Emotion Stress and Technology, Department of Psychological Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA.
⁵ Vermont Center on Behavior and Health, Burlington, VT, USA.
⁶ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany.
⁷ Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
⁸ Discipline of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
⁹ Centre for Population Neuroscience and Precision Medicine (PONS), Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, SGDP Centre, King's College London, London, UK.
¹⁰ Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany.
¹¹ Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany.
¹² NeuroSpin, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
¹³ Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, UK.
¹⁴ Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy CCM, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany.
¹⁵ Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Braunschweig, Germany.
¹⁶ Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, INSERM U A10 "Trajectoires développementales en psychiatrie", Paris, France.
¹⁷ Université Paris-Saclay, Ecole Normale supérieure Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Centre Borelli, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
¹⁸ AP-HP.Sorbonne Université, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France.
¹⁹ Psychiatry Department 91G16, Orsay Hospital, Orsay, France.
²⁰ Institute of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, University Medical Center Schleswig Holstein, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany.
²¹ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Centre Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
²² Department of Psychiatry and Neuroimaging Center, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
²³ School of Psychology and Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
²⁴ PONS Research Group, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Campus Charite Mitte, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.
²⁵ Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany.
²⁶ Institute for Science and Technology of Brain-inspired Intelligence (ISTBI), Fudan University, Shanghai, PR China.

PMID: 33637836
PMCID: PMC8429761
DOI: 10.1038/s41386-021-00987-7

Abstract

Exposure to maltreatment during childhood is associated with structural changes throughout the brain. However, the structural differences that are most strongly associated with maltreatment remain unclear given the limited number of whole-brain studies. The present study used machine learning to identify if and how brain structure distinguished young adults with and without a history of maltreatment. Young adults (ages 18-21, n = 384) completed an assessment of childhood trauma exposure and a structural MRI as part of the IMAGEN study. Elastic net regularized regression was used to identify the structural features that identified those with a history of maltreatment. A generalizable model that included 7 cortical thicknesses, 15 surface areas, and 5 subcortical volumes was identified (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.71, p < 0.001). Those with a maltreatment history had reduced surface areas and cortical thicknesses primarily in fronto-temporal regions. This group also had larger cortical thicknesses in occipital regions and surface areas in frontal regions. The results suggest childhood maltreatment is associated with multiple measures of structure throughout the brain. The use of a large sample without exposure to adulthood trauma provides further evidence for the unique contribution of childhood trauma to brain structure. The identified regions overlapped with regions associated with psychopathology in adults with maltreatment histories, which offers insights as to how these disorders manifest.

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Figures

**Fig. 1. Importance plot of features involved in classification.**
Weights represent prediction of maltreatment group. Negative weights indicate that this region is smaller in those with histories of maltreatment. Positive weights indicate that this region is larger in those with a history of maltreatment.

**Fig. 2. Brain regions involved in classification of those with a history of maltreatment.**
Red regions are cortical thickness, blue regions are surface areas, purple regions are those showing both cortical thickness and surface area effects, and yellow regions are subcortical volumes.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

Interpreting weights of multimodal machine learning models-problems and pitfalls.
Winter NR, Goltermann J, Dannlowski U, Hahn T. Winter NR, et al. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2021 Oct;46(11):1861-1862. doi: 10.1038/s41386-021-01030-5. Epub 2021 May 20. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2021. PMID: 34017082 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
Reply to Winter et al: Interpreting weights of multimodal machine learning models-problems and pitfalls.
Price M, Allgaier N, Garavan H. Price M, et al. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2021 Oct;46(11):1863. doi: 10.1038/s41386-021-01082-7. Epub 2021 Jul 13. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2021. PMID: 34257414 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

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Examination of the association between exposure to childhood maltreatment and brain structure in young adults: a machine learning analysis

Affiliations

Examination of the association between exposure to childhood maltreatment and brain structure in young adults: a machine learning analysis

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Figures

Comment in

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Other Literature Sources

Medical