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. 2022 Oct 6:13:955871.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.955871. eCollection 2022.

Adverse childhood experiences and fronto-subcortical structures in the developing brain

Elizabeth E L Buimer  1 , Rachel M Brouwer  1   2 , René C W Mandl  1 , Pascal Pas  1   3 , Hugo G Schnack  1   4 , Hilleke E Hulshoff Pol  1   5
Affiliations

Adverse childhood experiences and fronto-subcortical structures in the developing brain

Elizabeth E L Buimer et al. Front Psychiatry. .

Abstract

The impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) differs between individuals and depends on the type and timing of the ACE. The aim of this study was to assess the relation between various recently occurred ACEs and morphology in the developing brain of children between 8 and 11 years of age. We measured subcortical volumes, cortical thickness, cortical surface area and fractional anisotropy in regions of interest in brain scans acquired in 1,184 children from the YOUth cohort. ACEs were based on parent-reports of recent experiences and included: financial problems; parental mental health problems; physical health problems in the family; substance abuse in the family; trouble with police, justice or child protective services; change in household composition; change in housing; bereavement; divorce or conflict in the family; exposure to violence in the family and bullying victimization. We ran separate linear models for each ACE and each brain measure. Results were adjusted for the false discovery rate across regions of interest. ACEs were reported for 83% of children in the past year. Children were on average exposed to two ACEs. Substance abuse in the household was associated with larger cortical surface area in the left superior frontal gyrus, t(781) = 3.724, p FDR = 0.0077, right superior frontal gyrus, t(781) = 3.409, p FDR = 0.0110, left pars triangularis, t(781) = 3.614, p FDR = 0.0077, left rostral middle frontal gyrus, t(781) = 3.163, p FDR = 0.0195 and right caudal anterior cingulate gyrus, t(781) = 2.918, p FDR = 0.0348. Household exposure to violence (was associated with lower fractional anisotropy in the left and right cingulum bundle hippocampus region t(697) = -3.154, p FDR = 0.0101 and t(697) = -3.401, p FDR = 0.0085, respectively. Lower household incomes were more prevalent when parents reported exposure to violence and the mean parental education in years was lower when parents reported substance abuse in the family. No other significant associations with brain structures were found. Longer intervals between adversity and brain measurements and longitudinal measurements may reveal whether more evidence for the impact of ACEs on brain development will emerge later in life.

Keywords: YOUth cohort study; adverse childhood experiences; brain structure; child; neuroimaging; stress.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Fronto-limbic and fronto-striatal regions-of-interest. (A) Subcortical volume was measured in the colored subcortical structures (overlaid on a reference brain for orientation). (B) Cortical thickness and cortical surface area were measured in the colored cortical structures. (C) Fractional anisotropy was measured in the colored white matter structures (overlaid on a reference brain for orientation).
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Descriptive statistics for the exposure to ACEs. (A) Histogram of the number of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) per child. (B) Table with the prevalence of specific ACEs in our sample. Borders between the rows indicate a different data source: 9 ACEs from the life events survey, 1 from the bullying survey, 1 from the health survey, and 1 composed from all three surveys. The prevalence of ACEs was similar in the total group compared to the subsets with MR data available. The last columns list the sample size for each data source in the total group and in the subsets with T1-weighted MRI data or diffusion-weighted imaging data available. (C) Matrix visualizing the overlap between two types of ACEs. Darker colors represent a higher overlap (in percentage) between children with one ACE (row) and a second ACE (column). The upper and lower triangle are not symmetric because the percentage is based on the subset defined in the row. The diagonal is masked out (white).
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Effects of age and sex on global brain measures. Red dots indicate brain measures in girls and blue dots indicate brain measures in boys. Lines show the relation modeled linearly between brain measures and age (for girls in red, boys in blue and in black for the group as whole). Fractional anisotropy measures were corrected for the different acquisition protocols.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Associations between substance abuse in the household and cortical surface area.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Associations between exposure to violence and fractional anisotropy.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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