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Preschool anxiety disorders predict different patterns of amygdala-prefrontal connectivity at school-age.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: In this prospective, longitudinal study of young children, we examined
whether a history of preschool generalized anxiety, separation anxiety, and/or social
phobia is associated with amygdala-prefrontal dysregulation at school-age. As an exploratory
analysis, we investigated whether distinct anxiety disorders differ in the patterns
of this amygdala-prefrontal dysregulation. METHODS: Participants were children taking
part in a 5-year study of early childhood brain development and anxiety disorders.
Preschool symptoms of generalized anxiety, separation anxiety, and social phobia were
assessed with the Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment (PAPA) in the first wave of
the study when the children were between 2 and 5 years old. The PAPA was repeated
at age 6. We conducted functional MRIs when the children were 5.5 to 9.5 year old
to assess neural responses to viewing of angry and fearful faces. RESULTS: A history
of preschool social phobia predicted less school-age functional connectivity between
the amygdala and the ventral prefrontal cortices to angry faces. Preschool generalized
anxiety predicted less functional connectivity between the amygdala and dorsal prefrontal
cortices in response to fearful faces. Finally, a history of preschool separation
anxiety predicted less school-age functional connectivity between the amygdala and
the ventral prefrontal cortices to angry faces and greater school-age functional connectivity
between the amygdala and dorsal prefrontal cortices to angry faces. CONCLUSIONS: Our
results suggest that there are enduring neurobiological effects associated with a
history of preschool anxiety, which occur over-and-above the effect of subsequent
emotional symptoms. Our results also provide preliminary evidence for the neurobiological
differentiation of specific preschool anxiety disorders.
Type
Journal articleSubject
AmygdalaAnxiety, Separation
Child, Preschool
Connectome
Female
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Prefrontal Cortex
Prospective Studies
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/9486Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1371/journal.pone.0116854Publication Info
Carpenter, Kimberly LH; Angold, Adrian; Chen, Nan-Kuei; Copeland, William E; Gaur,
Pooja; Pelphrey, Kevin; ... Egger, Helen L (2015). Preschool anxiety disorders predict different patterns of amygdala-prefrontal connectivity
at school-age. PLoS One, 10(1). pp. e0116854. 10.1371/journal.pone.0116854. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/9486.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Adrian Christopher Angold
Associate Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Developmental epidemiology seeks to apply developmental and epidemiological principles
to the study of psychopathology. Within this overall framework, my main research interests
relate to the study of depression, anxiety, and disruptive behavior disorders and
their effects on service use in children and adolescents. Current activities include
studies of (1) relationships among pubertal hormonal changes, morphological changes,
life strain, and psychopathology; (2) the development of measures
Kimberly Carpenter
Assistant Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Dr. Kimberly Carpenter is a clinical neuroscientist specializing in understanding
complex brain-behavior relationships in young children with autism and associated
disorders. Her program of research includes four interrelated research themes: (1)
Understanding the impact of comorbid disorders on clinical and behavioral outcomes
of young autistic children; (2) Identification of early risk factors for the development
of psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders; (3) Identification of brain-b
Nan-kuei Chen
Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Radiology
Dr. Chen is a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) physicist with research interest in
fast image acquisition methodology, pulse sequence design, MRI artifact correction,
and application of MRI to studies of neurological diseases. He has been developing
novel high-resolution imaging protocols and analysis procedures for mapping structural
and functional connectivity of brains. More generally, Dr. Chen's research involves
the application of MRI in translational contexts. He has been serving as the pr
William Everett Copeland
Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Helen Link Egger
Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Allen W Song
Professor in Radiology
The research in our lab is concerned with advancing structural and functional MRI
methodologies (e.g. fast and high-resolution imaging techniques) for human brain imaging.
We also aim to improve our understanding of functional brain signals, including spatiotemporal
characterizations of the blood oxygenation level dependent contrast and alternative
contrast mechanisms that are more directly linked to the neuronal activities. Additional
effort is invested in applying and validating the de
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