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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Hum. Neurosci.
Sec. Brain Health and Clinical Neuroscience
Volume 19 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2025.1561421
Impact of fatigue in Crohn's disease is negatively related to resting state functional connectivity between the superior parietal lobule and parahippocampal gyrus/hippocampus
Provisionally accepted
Theresa Amanda McIver 1
Charles Noah Bernstein 1
Ruth Ann Marrie 2
Chase R. Figley 1
Md Nasir Uddin 3
John David Fisk 2
Lesley A. Graff 1
Ronak Patel 1
Erin Lindsay Mazerolle 4
Jennifer Kornelsen 1*- 1 University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
- 2 Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada
- 3 University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, United States
- 4 St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada
Introduction: Fatigue is a common and burdensome symptom for persons with Crohn's disease (CD). The pathophysiology of fatigue in CD is not fully understood. Specifically, basic research on the difference in brain functioning associated with fatigue in CD is scarce. This study aimed to address this knowledge gap by identifying fatigue-related differences in brain resting state functional connectivity(FC). Methods: Participants included 49 adults with CD (Mage 53yrs, 35f) and 49 healthy controls (HC; Mage 50yrs, 31f). The Fatigue Impact Scale (FIS) assessed impact of fatigue across three domains (physical, cognitive, and psychosocial) as well as total impact of fatigue. The Harvey-Bradshaw Inventory (HBI) assessed disease activity. FC was assessed in relation to scores on the FIS. Moderation analyses tested whether FC moderates the relationship between disease activity and fatigue. Results: CD reported more severe fatigue than HC in each domain. For CD, increasing fatigue was associated with decreasing FC between the superior parietal lobule and the parahippocampal gyrus/hippocampus. Unlike in HC, an increasing impact of physical fatigue was associated with decreasing FC between these ROIs for CD (TFCE=16.88, p-FDR=0.03). There was a significant interaction between disease activity, total fatigue, and FC of the right superior parietal lobule and left anterior parahippocampal gyrus (ΔR2=0.058, F=5.445, p=0.0245). Higher HBI scores were only associated with higher total FIS scores in persons with CD who exhibited negative FC between these brain regions. Discussion: In people with CD, fatigue increases as FC between brain regions involved in sensorimotor integration and memory processing decreases.
Keywords: Crohn's disease, Functional Connectivity, disease activity, Fatigue, fMRI
Received: 16 Jan 2025; Accepted: 07 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 McIver, Bernstein, Marrie, Figley, Uddin, Fisk, Graff, Patel, Mazerolle and Kornelsen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jennifer Kornelsen, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
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