Associations between early trajectories of amygdala development and later school-age anxiety in two longitudinal samples

Catherine A Burrows; Carolyn Lasch; Julia Gross; Jessica B Girault; Joshua Rutsohn; Jason J Wolff; Meghan R Swanson; Chimei M Lee; Stephen R Dager; Emil Cornea; Rebecca Stephens; Martin Styner; Tanya St John; Juhi Pandey; Meera Deva; Kelly N Botteron; Annette M Estes; Heather C Hazlett; John R Pruett Jr; Robert T Schultz; Lonnie Zwaigenbaum; John H Gilmore; Mark D Shen; Joseph Piven; Jed T Elison; IBIS Network

doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2023.101333

Associations between early trajectories of amygdala development and later school-age anxiety in two longitudinal samples

Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2024 Feb:65:101333. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2023.101333. Epub 2023 Dec 22.

Authors

Catherine A Burrows¹, Carolyn Lasch², Julia Gross³, Jessica B Girault³, Joshua Rutsohn⁴, Jason J Wolff⁵, Meghan R Swanson⁶, Chimei M Lee⁷, Stephen R Dager⁸, Emil Cornea⁹, Rebecca Stephens¹⁰, Martin Styner¹⁰, Tanya St John¹¹, Juhi Pandey⁹, Meera Deva¹⁰, Kelly N Botteron¹², Annette M Estes¹³, Heather C Hazlett³, John R Pruett Jr¹², Robert T Schultz⁹, Lonnie Zwaigenbaum¹⁴, John H Gilmore¹⁰, Mark D Shen¹⁵, Joseph Piven³, Jed T Elison¹⁶; IBIS Network

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA. Electronic address: cburrows@umn.edu.
² Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
³ Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities and Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
⁴ Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
⁵ Department of Educational Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
⁶ School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA.
⁷ Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
⁸ Deptartment of Radiology, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, WA, USA.
⁹ Center for Autism Research, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
¹¹ University of Washington Autism Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
¹² Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.
¹³ University of Washington Autism Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA; Deptartment of Speech and Hearing Science, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
¹⁴ Deptartment of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
¹⁵ Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities and Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA; Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.

Abstract

Amygdala function is implicated in the pathogenesis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and anxiety. We investigated associations between early trajectories of amygdala growth and anxiety and ASD outcomes at school age in two longitudinal studies: high- and low-familial likelihood for ASD, Infant Brain Imaging Study (IBIS, n = 257) and typically developing (TD) community sample, Early Brain Development Study (EBDS, n = 158). Infants underwent MRI scanning at up to 3 timepoints from neonate to 24 months. Anxiety was assessed at 6-12 years. Linear multilevel modeling tested whether amygdala volume growth was associated with anxiety symptoms at school age. In the IBIS sample, children with higher anxiety showed accelerated amygdala growth from 6 to 24 months. ASD diagnosis and ASD familial likelihood were not significant predictors. In the EBDS sample, amygdala growth from birth to 24 months was associated with anxiety. More anxious children had smaller amygdala volume and slower rates of amygdala growth. We explore reasons for the contrasting results between high-familial likelihood for ASD and TD samples, grounding results in the broader literature of variable associations between early amygdala volume and later anxiety. Results have the potential to identify mechanisms linking early amygdala growth to later anxiety in certain groups.

Keywords: Amygdala; Anxiety; Autism spectrum disorder (ASD); Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); Reproducibility.

MeSH terms

Amygdala
Anxiety
Anxiety Disorders
Autism Spectrum Disorder*
Brain
Child
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods

Abstract

MeSH terms

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