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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Neurol.
Sec. Applied Neuroimaging
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2024.1487985
This article is part of the Research Topic Advanced fNIRS Applications in Neuroscience and Neurological Disorders View all 6 articles

The Impact of Sleep Disorders on Brain Network Connectivity in Postpartum Women: a Functional Near-infrared Spectroscopy-Based Study

Provisionally accepted
Xia Chen Xia Chen 1Shanguang Zhao Shanguang Zhao 2Danni Chen Danni Chen 1Dan Zhang Dan Zhang 1*
  • 1 Tsinghua University, Beijing, Beijing, China
  • 2 Shanghai Maritime University, pudong, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Sleep disorder is an important risk factor for postpartum depression. Although previous research has explored brain activity in postpartum depression, it has not fully revealed how insomnia affect mood by altering interactions between brain regions.This study aim to investigate the relationship between insomnia and depressive status in postpartum women, utilizing functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to explore brain network topological properties. Among 143 postpartum women, 40 were diagnosed with insomnia and 103 without. The results indicated that the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) scores were significantly higher in the insomnia group compared to the control group. Compared with the control group, the insomnia group showed significantly increased connection strength of triangularis Broca's between middle and superior Temporal gyrus and left between right dlPFC (p < 0.001). Brain network topological analysis revealed that the small-world properties, clustering coefficient (p = 0.009), and local efficiency (p = 0.009) were significantly lower in the insomnia group compared to the control group. Notably, the local efficiency and clustering coefficient of the left temporal pole were significantly reduced and negatively correlated with EPDS scores. These findings elucidate how insomnia may exacerbate postpartum depression through changes in brain network properties. While the observed alterations in connectivity suggest a correlation, causation cannot be definitively established. Improving sleep quality remains a promising intervention, but further research is needed to clarify causal links and therapeutic targets.

    Keywords: postpartum depression, verbal fluency task, insomnia, functional connectivity, Network topological properties, fNIRS

    Received: 29 Aug 2024; Accepted: 12 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Chen, Zhao, Chen and Zhang. 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: Dan Zhang, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, Beijing, China

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