Flexible nonlinear modeling reveals age-related differences in resting-state functional brain connectivity in autistic males from childhood to mid-adulthood.
Daniel Feldman, Molly Prigge, Andrew Alexander and 3 others
PMID 40234995WHAT IT FOUND
In autistic males, brain connections aged along different curves than in typically developing males.
Some autistic connections rose steadily with age, while typical connections peaked then settled. The study measured brain scans, not therapy outcomes.
Key findings
01The analysis tested 136 connections. In 1107 males aged 5 to 40, 55 connections changed with age in typically developing males and 19 in ASD males, with 15 overlapping and 9 showing different trajectories.
02In six overlapping pathways, typically developing connectivity increased in childhood and adolescence then stabilised or decreased, while ASD connectivity increased linearly with age.
03Linear models and age-binned analyses found no group-by-age interactions after correction.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The study analysed only males, so it cannot speak to autistic females. It used cross-sectional scans, comparing different people at different ages rather than tracking the same people over time. The age range was 5 to 40, not the full lifespan. The analysis looked at broad cortical networks and not subcortical regions. The post-hoc comparisons of curve differences were not corrected for multiple comparisons within each model. The study could not quantify individual-level deviation from the group curves.
Declared interests
Funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, and the National Institute on Aging.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these connectivity curves as a diagnostic test or a reason to change therapy for an autistic patient. The study analysed brain scans from different people at different ages, excluded females, and reported brain connectivity differences rather than clinical or therapy outcomes.