Association between cortical thickness and cognitive ability in very preterm school-age children

Abstract

Very preterm children, born before 32 weeks of gestation, are at risk for impaired cognitive function, mediated by several risk factors. Cognitive impairment can be measured by various neurodevelopmental assessments and is closely associated with structural alterations of brain morphometry, such as cortical thickness. However, the association between structural alterations and high-order cognitive function remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the neurodevelopmental associations between brain structural changes and cognitive abilities in very preterm and full-term children. Cortical thickness was assessed in 37 very preterm and 24 full-term children aged 6 years. Cortical thickness analysis of structural T1-weighted images was performed using Advanced Normalization Tools. Associations between cortical thickness and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children were evaluated by regression analysis based on ordinary least square estimation. Compared with full-term children, very preterm children showed significant differences in cortical thickness, variously associated with cognitive abilities in several brain regions. Perceptual reasoning indices were broadly correlated with cortical thickness in very preterm and full-term children. These findings provide important insights into neurodevelopment and its association with cortical thickness, which may serve as a biomarker in predictive models for neurodevelopmental diagnosis of high-order cognitive function.

Figure 1

Differences in cortical thickness between very preterm and full-term children. Areas with significant differences are shown in color, with red to yellow representing a thicker cortex and dark to light blue representing a thinner cortex in the very preterm children compared with the full-term children. Threshold false discovery rate (FDR), P < 0.05.

Figure 2

Regression analysis between cortical thickness and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, fourth edition (WISC-IV) indices in (A) very preterm and (B) full-term children. Red areas show positive coefficients, and blue areas show negative coefficients. (C) Association between the perceptual reasoning index (PRI) scores and cortical thickness in very preterm and full-term children. Threshold false discovery rate (FDR), P < 0.05.