ArticleMolecular autism2022
The longitudinal bidirectional relationship between autistic traits and brain morphology from childhood to adolescence: a population-based cohort study.
Article in Molecular autism, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cortical thickness abnormalities in autism spectrum disorder.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Perinatal brain growth and autistic traits in toddlers.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Demographic, genetic, neuroimaging, and behavioral correlates of short social responsiveness scale in a large pediatric cohort.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Leveraging AI-Driven Neuroimaging Biomarkers for Early Detection and Social Function Prediction in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Systematic Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- The interplay between brain and behavior during development: A multisite effort to generate and share simulated datasets.Scientific data · 2025Article
- Superior temporal sulcus folding, functional network connectivity, and autistic-like traits in a non-clinical population.Molecular autism · 2024Article
- Association of polygenic scores for autism with volumetric MRI phenotypes in cerebellum and brainstem in adults.Molecular autism · 2024Article
- Transcranial photobiomodulation in children aged 2-6 years: a randomized sham-controlled clinical trial assessing safety, efficacy, and impact on autism spectrum disorder symptoms and brain electrophysiology.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Article
- The subcortical correlates of autistic traits in school-age children: a population-based neuroimaging study.Molecular autism · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveAutistic traits are associated with alterations in brain morphology. However, the anatomic location of these differences and their developmental trajectories are unclear. The primary objective of this longitudinal study was to explore the bidirectional relationship between autistic traits and brain morphology from childhood to adolescence.
methodParticipants were drawn from a population-based cohort. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses included 1950 (mean age 13.5) and 304 participants (mean ages 6.2 and 13.5), respectively. Autistic traits were measured with the Social Responsiveness Scale. Global brain measures and surface-based measures of gyrification, cortical thickness and surface area were obtained from T
resultsCross-sectionally, higher levels of autistic traits in adolescents are associated with lower gyrification in the pars opercularis, insula and superior temporal cortex; smaller surface area in the middle temporal and postcentral cortex; larger cortical thickness in the superior frontal cortex; and smaller cerebellum cortex volume. Longitudinally, both autistic traits and brain measures were quite stable, with neither brain measures predicting changes in autistic traits, nor vice-versa. LIMITATIONS: Autistic traits were assessed at only two time points, and thus we could not distinguish within- versus between-person effects. Furthermore, two different MRI scanners were used between baseline and follow-up for imaging data acquisition.
conclusionsOur findings point to early changes in brain morphology in children with autistic symptoms that remain quite stable over time. The observed relationship did not change substantially after excluding children with high levels of autistic traits, bolstering the evidence for the extension of the neurobiology of autistic traits to the general population.
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