Altered resting-state functional connectivity in children and adolescents born very preterm

Abstract

The formation of resting-state functional networks in infancy has been reported to be strongly impacted by very preterm birth. Studies in childhood and adolescence have largely focused on language processing networks and identified both decreased and increased functional connectivity. It is unclear, however, whether functional connectivity strength is altered globally in children and adolescents born very preterm and whether these alterations are related to the frequently occurring cognitive deficits. Here, resting-state functional MRI was assessed in a group of 32 school-aged children and adolescents born very preterm with normal intellectual and motor abilities and 39 healthy term-born peers. Functional connectivity within and between a comprehensive set of well-established resting-state networks was compared between the groups. IQ and executive function abilities were tested with standardized tasks and potential associations with connectivity strength were explored. Functional connectivity was weaker in the very preterm compared to the term-born group between the sensorimotor network and the visual and dorsal attention network, within the sensorimotor network and within the central executive network. In contrast, functional connectivity was stronger in the very preterm group between the sensorimotor network and parts of the salience and the central executive network. Little evidence was found that these alterations underlie lower IQ or poorer executive function abilities. This study provides evidence for a long-lasting impact of very preterm birth on the organization of resting-state networks. The potential consequence of these alterations for other neurodevelopmental domains than the ones investigated in the current study warrants further investigation.