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Meta-Analysis
. 2024 Mar 4;22(1):92.
doi: 10.1186/s12916-024-03313-2.

Common and distinct cortical thickness alterations in youth with autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Wanfang You #  1   2   3 , Qian Li #  1   2 , Lizhou Chen #  1   2 , Ning He  4 , Yuanyuan Li  4 , Fenghua Long  1   2 , Yaxuan Wang  1   2 , Yufei Chen  1   2 , Robert K McNamara  5 , John A Sweeney  1   5 , Melissa P DelBello  5 , Qiyong Gong  1   2 , Fei Li  6   7
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Common and distinct cortical thickness alterations in youth with autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Wanfang You et al. BMC Med. .

Abstract

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are neurodevelopmental disorders with overlapping behavioral features and genetic etiology. While brain cortical thickness (CTh) alterations have been reported in ASD and ADHD separately, the degree to which ASD and ADHD are associated with common and distinct patterns of CTh changes is unclear.

Methods: We searched PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Science Direct from inception to 8 December 2023 and included studies of cortical thickness comparing youth (age less than 18) with ASD or ADHD with typically developing controls (TDC). We conducted a comparative meta-analysis of vertex-based studies to identify common and distinct CTh alterations in ASD and ADHD.

Results: Twelve ASD datasets involving 458 individuals with ASD and 10 ADHD datasets involving 383 individuals with ADHD were included in the analysis. Compared to TDC, ASD showed increased CTh in bilateral superior frontal gyrus, left middle temporal gyrus, and right superior parietal lobule (SPL) and decreased CTh in right temporoparietal junction (TPJ). ADHD showed decreased CTh in bilateral precentral gyri, right postcentral gyrus, and right TPJ relative to TDC. Conjunction analysis showed both disorders shared reduced TPJ CTh located in default mode network (DMN). Comparative analyses indicated ASD had greater CTh in right SPL and TPJ located in dorsal attention network and thinner CTh in right TPJ located in ventral attention network than ADHD.

Conclusions: These results suggest shared thinner TPJ located in DMN is an overlapping neurobiological feature of ASD and ADHD. This alteration together with SPL alterations might be related to altered biological motion processing in ASD, while abnormalities in sensorimotor systems may contribute to behavioral control problems in ADHD. The disorder-specific thinner TPJ located in disparate attention networks provides novel insight into distinct symptoms of attentional deficits associated with the two neurodevelopmental disorders.

Trial registration: PROSPERO CRD42022370620. Registered on November 9, 2022.

Keywords: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; Autism spectrum disorder; Cortical thickness; Magnetic resonance imaging; Meta-analysis; Surface-based morphometry.

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Conflict of interest statement

MPD receives research support from national institutes of health (NIH), PCORI, Acadia, Allergan, Janssen, Johnson and Johnson, Lundbeck, Otsuka, Pfizer, and Sunovion. She is also a consultant, on the advisory board, or has received honoraria for speaking for Alkermes, Allergan, Assurex, CMEology, Janssen, Johnson and Johnson, Lundbeck, Myriad, Neuronetics, Otsuka, Pfizer, Sunovion, and Supernus. RKM has received research support from Martek Biosciences Inc, Royal DSM Nutritional Products, LLC, Inflammation Research Foundation, Ortho-McNeil Janssen, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, NARSAD, and NIH, and previously served on the scientific advisory board of the Inflammation Research Foundation. Other authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with regard to this manuscript.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart of literature search and eligibility assessment
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Cortical thickness alterations in ASD and ADHD. The SDM software uses the peak coordinates and effect sizes of clusters showing significant difference between patients and controls to create an effect-size signed map and its variance map for each study. Then random-effects analysis was performed to obtain the mean map of included studies, weighted by sample size, the variance of each study, and between-study heterogeneity. The boundary of the result clusters in the mean map was determined by corresponding statistical thresholds. Subsequently, the results maps of ASD vs controls, ADHD vs controls, and the comparison between ASD and ADHD were mapped onto the Colin 27 brain template to generate Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Illustration of CTh alterations in right TPJ in ASD and ADHD in present meta-analysis. The results maps of ASD group, ADHD group, and the comparison and conjunction between ASD and ADHD in right temporoparietal junction (TPJ) were mapped onto the Smoothed International Consortium for Brain Mapping 152 to generate Fig. 3. A shows the brain regions of ventral (yellow areas) and dorsal (blue areas) attention networks respectively on the right hemisphere based on Yeo 7 network template [51]. B delineates the conjunctively decreased CTh (orange areas) in right TPJ shared in both ASD and ADHD. C and D demonstrate decreased CTh in right TPJ in ASD (green areas) and ADHD (purple areas) than their respective typically developing controls. E and F present a more severe CTh decreases in right TPJ in ASD than ADHD (pink areas) and in ADHD than ASD (red areas)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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