Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Neurosci.
Sec. Brain Imaging Methods
Volume 18 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1391407
This article is part of the Research Topic Methods and Applications of Diffusion MRI Tractometry View all 9 articles

White matter microstructure, traumatic brain injury, and disruptive behavior disorders in girls and boys

Provisionally accepted
Guido Guberman Guido Guberman 1*Guillaume Theaud Guillaume Theaud 2Samuel W. Hawes Samuel W. Hawes 3Alain Ptito Alain Ptito 1Maxime Descoteaux Maxime Descoteaux 2Sheilagh Hodgins Sheilagh Hodgins 4
  • 1 McGill University, Montreal, Canada
  • 2 Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
  • 3 Florida International University, Miami, Florida, United States
  • 4 Montreal University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

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

    Girls and boys presenting disruptive behavior disorders (DBDs) display differences in white matter microstructure (WMM) relative to typically developing (TD) sex-matched peers. Boys with DBDs are at increased risk for traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). This study aimed to disentangle associations of WMM with DBDs and TBIs. The sample included 673 children with DBDs and 836 TD children, aged 9-10, from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study. Thirteen white matter bundles previously associated with DBDs were the focus of study. Analyses were undertaken separately by sex, adjusting for callousunemotional traits (CU), attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), age, pubertal stage, IQ, ethnicity, and family income. Among children without TBIs, those with DBDs showed sex-specific differences in WMM of several tracts relative to TD. Most differences were associated with ADHD, CU, or both. Greater proportions of girls and boys with DBDs than sex-matched TD children had sustained TBIs. Among girls and boys with DBDs, those who had sustained TBIs compared to those not injured, displayed WMM alterations that were robust to adjustment for all covariates. Across most DBD/TD comparisons, axonal density scores were higher among children presenting DBDs. In conclusion, in this community sample of children, those with DBDs were more likely to have sustained TBIs that were associated with additional, sex-specific, alterations of WMM. These additional alterations further compromise the future development of children with DBDs.

    Keywords: Traumatic brain injur y, diffusion MRI (dMRI), Tractometry, behaviour problems, Multivariate analysis

    Received: 25 Feb 2024; Accepted: 11 Jun 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Guberman, Theaud, Hawes, Ptito, Descoteaux and Hodgins. 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: Guido Guberman, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.