ArticleBiological psychiatry2021
A Longitudinal Study of White Matter Development in Relation to Changes in Autism Severity Across Early Childhood.
Article in Biological psychiatry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
47 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 78 citations in OpenAlex.
- Presymptomatic Biological, Structural, and Functional Diagnostic Biomarkers of Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of neurochemistry · 2025Pooled it
- Sex/gender differences in the human autistic brains: A systematic review of 20 years of neuroimaging research.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2021Pooled it
- Brain-based sex differences in autism spectrum disorder across the lifespan: A systematic review of structural MRI, fMRI, and DTI findings.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2021Pooled it
- The superior temporal asymmetrical pit remains asymmetric in autism spectrum disorder.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- White matter microstructure and structural network alterations in children with global developmental delay.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Multimodal predictors of spoken vocabulary development in autism: the role of early childhood brain and behavior.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Copper deficiency impairs oligodendrocyte maturation and social behavior via mitophagy and mTOR suppression in ASD.Science advances · 2026Article
- Sharing Our World: Impact of Group Motor Skill Learning on Joint Attention in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- CYFIP1 governs the development of cortical axons by modulating calcium availability.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Advanced Quantitative Microstructure Imaging in Autism: A Review of Methodology, Group Differences, and Associations With Developmental Outcomes.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2025Review
- Mapping along-tract commissural and association white matter microstructural differences in autistic children and young adults.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2025Article
- Age-related differences in axon pruning and myelination may alter neural signaling in autism spectrum disorder.Molecular autism · 2025Article
- Neurobiological and Behavioral Heterogeneity in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Unveiling causal relationship between white matter tracts and psychiatric disorders.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Leveraging AI-Driven Neuroimaging Biomarkers for Early Detection and Social Function Prediction in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Systematic Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Transcallosal white matter and cortical gray matter variations in autistic adults aged 30-73 years.Molecular autism · 2025Article
- Mice with 16p11.2 Deletion and Duplication Show Alterations in Biological Processes Associated with White Matter.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Altered white matter connectivity is linked to language abilities in children with autism spectrum disorder: An automated fiber quantification study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Alterations in the white matter fiber tracts of preschool-aged children with autism spectrum disorder: an automated fiber quantification study.Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery · 2024Article
- Structure of subcortico-cortical tracts in middle-aged and older adults with autism spectrum disorder.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundCross-sectional diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging studies suggest that young autistic children have alterations in white matter structure that differ from older autistic individuals. However, it is unclear whether these differences result from atypical neurodevelopment or sampling differences between young and older cohorts. Furthermore, the relationship between altered white matter development and longitudinal changes in autism symptoms is unknown.
methodsUsing longitudinal diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging acquired over 2 to 3 time points between the ages of approximately 2.5 to 7.0 years in 125 autistic children and 69 typically developing control participants, we directly tested the hypothesis that autistic individuals have atypical white matter development across childhood. Additionally, we sought to determine whether changes in white matter diffusion parameters were associated with longitudinal changes in autism severity.
resultsAutistic children were found to have slower development of fractional anisotropy in the cingulum bundle, superior longitudinal fasciculus, internal capsule, and splenium of the corpus callosum. Furthermore, in the sagittal stratum, autistic individuals who increased in autism severity over time had a slower developmental trajectory of fractional anisotropy compared with individuals whose autism decreased in severity. In the uncinate fasciculus, autistic individuals who decreased in autism symptom severity also had greater increases in fractional anisotropy with age.
conclusionsThese longitudinal findings indicate that previously reported differences in diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging measures between younger and older autism cohorts are attributable to an atypical developmental trajectory of white matter. Differences in white matter development between individuals whose autism severity increased, remained stable, or decreased suggest that these functional differences are associated with fiber development in the autistic brain.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.