AUTHOR=Gu Huang , Shan Xueke , He Hui , Zhao Junfeng , Li Xiaoming TITLE=EEG Evidence of Altered Functional Connectivity and Microstate in Children Orphaned by HIV/AIDS JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry VOLUME=13 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.898716 DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2022.898716 ISSN=1664-0640 ABSTRACT=

Children orphaned by HIV/AIDS (“AIDS orphans”) suffer numerous early-life adverse events which have a long-lasting effect on brain function. Although previous studies found altered electroencephalography (EEG) oscillation during resting state in children orphaned by HIV/AIDS, data are limited regarding the alterations in connectivity and microstate. The current study aimed to investigate the functional connectivity (FC) and microstate in children orphaned by HIV/AIDS with resting-state EEG data. Data were recorded from 63 children orphaned by HIV/AIDS and 65 non-orphan controls during a close-eyes resting state. The differences in phase-locking value (PLV) of global average FC and temporal dynamics of microstate were compared between groups. For functional connectivity, children orphaned by HIV/AIDS showed decreased connectivity in alpha, beta, theta, and delta band compared with non-orphan controls. For microstate, EEG results demonstrated that children orphaned by HIV/AIDS show increased duration and coverage of microstate C, decreased occurrence and coverage of microstate B, and decreased occurrence of microstate D than non-orphan controls. These findings suggest that the microstate and functional connectivity has altered in children orphaned by HIV/AIDS compared with non-orphan controls and provide additional evidence that early life stress (ELS) would alter the structure and function of the brain and increase the risk of psychiatric disorders.