Childhood trauma is associated with accelerated brain aging: a transdiagnostic structural MRI study
Poster No:
454
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Lan Zhou1, Jan-Bernard Marsman1, Marieke Begemann1
Institutions:
1University Medical Center of Groningen, Groningen, Groningen
First Author:
Co-Author(s):
Introduction:
Childhood trauma is an important transdiagnostic risk factor for the development of psychopathology and cognitive impairment later in life. Accelerated biological aging is one of the potential underlying mechanisms. Prior research has mainly focused on the relation of childhood trauma with physical aging and genetic aging, yet the relationship between childhood trauma and brain aging has remained unexplored. In the current study, we investigated the association between childhood trauma and brain aging measures in a transdiagnostic sample.
Methods:
We included 518 participants: 241 bipolar-I patients, 113 schizophrenia-spectrum patients and 164 healthy individuals without a psychiatric history, ranging from 18 to 79 years. Participants filled in the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire – Short Form. Anatomical T1 MRI scans were acquired at 3T, and regional brain morphology was assessed using FreeSurfer. Neuroanatomical age was predicted by sex-specific machine learning models trained to individually estimate age from the structural magnetic resonance imaging of 35,683 healthy controls5. Differences between predicted neuroanatomical age and chronological age, referred to as the "brain age gap estimation" (BrainAGE), were calculated. As BrainAGE values are often overestimated in younger individuals and underestimated in older individuals, adjustments for chronological age were made within a bias-adjustment brain age framework, with elevated values indicating accelerated brain aging. Linear regression analyses were conducted to investigate the association between childhood trauma severity with the adjusted BrainAGE, while controlling for sex and diagnosis.
Results:
Group-level analyses showed that the brain age gap was + 0.67 years in the total sample, + 1.35 years in BPD, + 0.57 years in SZ and + 0.19 years in healthy controls. In the total sample, childhood trauma severity was associated with brain age acceleration, β = 0.046, p = 0.034, independent of the diagnosed psychiatric condition. A categorical approach showed a similar dose response pattern of more pronounced brain age acceleration in individuals reporting multiple forms of trauma and across quartiles of cumulative trauma scores. A similar pattern was revealed within the bipolar subgroup, whereas such patterns did not reach significance among individuals in the schizophrenia-spectrum or the healthy control group.
·The Association Between Childhood Trauma Severity and Adjusted Brain Age Gap in the Total Sample
·Violin Plot Depicting Adjusted Brain Age Gap Estimation across Categories of Reported Trauma Subtypes
Conclusions:
We observed that childhood trauma severity was linked to accelerated brain aging, across transdiagnostic boundaries. These results suggest that acceleration of the ageing trajectory may be an important mechanism by which childhood trauma contributes to the neuroanatomical signature of various mental disorders, which in turn is linked to cognitive and functional deficits. Gaining insight into the mechanisms behind normal and accelerated brain aging may not only elucidate the various factors influencing gray matter abnormalities in patients, but also aid in individualizing treatment.
Disorders of the Nervous System:
Psychiatric (eg. Depression, Anxiety, Schizophrenia) 1
Lifespan Development:
Aging 2
Novel Imaging Acquisition Methods:
Anatomical MRI
Keywords:
Morphometrics
MRI
Psychiatric Disorders
Schizophrenia
Trauma
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
Provide references using author date format
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