Abstracts

Resting-state Functional Connectivity in Adolescents with Epilepsy and Depression

Abstract number : 2.335
Submission category : 6. Cormorbidity (Somatic and Psychiatric)
Year : 2024
Submission ID : 930
Source : www.aesnet.org
Presentation date : 12/8/2024 12:00:00 AM
Published date :

Authors :
Presenting Author: Crystal Cooper, PhD – Cook Children's Health Care System

Cherise Chin Fatt, PhD – University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
F. Kathryn King, MS – Cook Childrens Medical Center, UT Arlington
M. Scott Perry, MD – Jane and John Justin Institute for Mind Health, Neurosciences Center, Cook Children's Medical Center
Christos Papadelis, PhD – Cook Children's Health Care System

Rationale: Depression is a commonly observed psychiatric comorbidity in epilepsy, including pediatric populations. While epilepsy can have both structural and functional abnormalities, depression is more functionally characterized. Intrinsic network connectivity has been highly investigated in depression research using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Deficits identified in the triple network model of the Default Mode (DMN), Salience (SN), and Central Executive (CEN) Networks have aided understanding of psychiatric illness mechanisms. It is likely that there are functional brain correlates within and between these networks that may reveal shared and differentiating connectivity in epilepsy and depression. Here, we characterized resting-state fMRI connectivity in adolescent patients with epilepsy (PWE) and typically developing controls (TD) with and without depression.

Methods: Both PWE (n=13) and TD (n=24) adolescents (aged 10-19; 16 female) underwent resting-state fMRI (rsfMRI; 10 min, eyes open) and completed the 9-Item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ9) to assess depression symptom severity. Connectivity between 19 key regions-of-interest (ROI; 8 bilateral and 3 medial) involved in emotion (SN) and CEN as well as the DMN were compared between TD and PWE. CEN included ROIs in the Dorsal Attention (DAN) and Frontoparietal (FPN) Networks (p< .05, FWE). Next, both cohorts were divided into those that had mild to severe depression symptoms (PHQ9 >5; “dep+”) and those that did not (PHQ9< 5; “dep-”), and their functional connectivity compared (p< .05, FWE).
Cormorbidity (Somatic and Psychiatric)