Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37573391›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2023

Reduced brain connectivity along the autism spectrum controlled for familial confounding by co-twin design.

Janina Neufeld, Simon Maier, Mirian Revers, Marco Reisert, Ralf Kuja-Halkola, Ludger Tebartz van Elst, Sven Bölte

Open access · goldAbstract readTwin Study
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.5field-weighted citation impact, top 37% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 3 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.

Janina NeufeldCenter of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (KIND), Centre for Psychiatry Research; Department of Women's and Children's Health & Stockholm Health Care Services, Karolinska Institutet & Region Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden. janina.neufeld@ki.se.
Simon MaierDepartment for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Section for Experimental Neuropsychiatry, Medical Center University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
Mirian ReversCenter of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (KIND), Centre for Psychiatry Research; Department of Women's and Children's Health & Stockholm Health Care Services, Karolinska Institutet & Region Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden.
Marco ReisertDepartment of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, Medical Center of the University of Freiburg, Medical Faculty, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
Ralf Kuja-HalkolaDepartment of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Ludger Tebartz van ElstDepartment for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Section for Experimental Neuropsychiatry, Medical Center University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
Sven BölteCenter of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (KIND), Centre for Psychiatry Research; Department of Women's and Children's Health & Stockholm Health Care Services, Karolinska Institutet & Region Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden.
Karolinska Institutet · SEUniversity of Freiburg · DECurtin University · AUNeuroDevelopment Center · USUniversity Medical Center Freiburg · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Previous studies on brain connectivity correlates of autism have often focused on selective connections and yielded inconsistent results. By applying global fiber tracking and utilizing a within-twin pair design, we aimed to contribute to a more unbiased picture of white matter connectivity in association with clinical autism and autistic traits. Eighty-seven twin pairs (n = 174; 55% monozygotic; 24 with clinical autism) underwent diffusion tensor imaging. Linear regressions assessed within-twin pair associations between structural brain connectivity of anatomically defined brain regions and both clinical autism and autistic traits. These were explicitly adjusted for IQ, other neurodevelopmental/psychiatric conditions and multiple testing, and implicitly for biological sex, age, and all genetic and environmental factors shared by twins. Both clinical autism and autistic traits were associated with reductions in structural connectivity. Twins fulfilling diagnostic criteria for clinical autism had decreased brainstem-cuneus connectivity compared to their co-twins without clinical autism. Further, twins with higher autistic traits had decreased connectivity of the left hippocampus with the left fusiform and parahippocampal areas. These associations were also significant in dizygotic twins alone. Reduced brainstem-cuneus connectivity might point towards alterations in low-level visual processing in clinical autism while higher autistic traits seemed to be more associated with reduced connectivity in networks involving the hippocampus and the fusiform gyrus, crucial especially for processing of faces and other (higher order) visual processing. The observed associations were likely influenced by both genes and environment.

Indexed as

Autism Spectrum DisorderAutistic DisorderChild Development Disorders, PervasiveBrainChildDiffusion Tensor ImagingHumansTwins, DizygoticTwins, Monozygotic

Identifiers

PMID37573391
PMCPMC10423238
OpenAlexW4385783122

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.