The subcortical correlates of autistic traits in school-age children: a population-based neuroimaging study.
T H Sharp, M Elsabbagh, A Pickles and 1 others
PMID 36765403WHAT IT FOUND
In 7005 children, higher autistic trait scores were not associated with differences in subcortical brain volumes once overall brain size was accounted for.
Apparent reductions in nucleus accumbens and putamen volumes disappeared after correcting for intracranial volume or adjusting for co-occurring behavioural symptoms.
Key findings
01Higher autistic trait scores showed little evidence of association with subcortical morphology volumes after accounting for overall brain size.
02Initial reductions in nucleus accumbens volume associated with autistic traits attenuated towards the null once cognition was included, and became non-significant after adjusting for externalising and internalising symptoms.
03Children with moderate or severe autism diagnoses were excluded from the sample, which may bias findings towards the null.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The study excluded children with moderate or severe autism diagnoses, meaning the sample represents only the lower end of the autistic trait distribution in the general population. Autistic traits were measured using an 11-item abridged version of the Social Responsiveness Scale, which may be less sensitive than the full 65-item scale. The Social Responsiveness Scale scores are influenced by general behavioural problems and not just autism-specific symptoms. The analysis was cross-sectional, so it cannot determine whether brain structure differences precede or follow the development of autistic traits. Neuroimaging data were processed using an older version of FreeSurfer (v5.3), which may affect comparability with studies using newer software.
Declared interests
The study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Fonds de Recherche du Québec, National Institute for Health Research Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre, and King's College London. The authors declared no competing interests.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the initial significant reductions in nucleus accumbens and pallidum volumes as evidence of a specific biomarker for autistic traits. These differences disappeared once overall brain size and co-occurring behavioural symptoms were accounted for, indicating they were not specific to autism.