Abstract
Early life adversity (ELA) in childhood is a major risk factor for borderline intellectual functioning (BIF). BIF affects both adaptive and intellectual abilities, commonly leading to school failure and to an increased risk to develop mental and social problems in the adulthood. This study aimed to investigate the neurobiological underpinnings of ELA associated with BIF in terms of global topological organization and structural connectivity and their relation with intellectual functioning. BIF (N=32) and age-matched typical development (TD, N=14) children were evaluated for intelligence quotient (IQ), behavioral competencies, and ELA. Children underwent an anatomical and diffusion-weighted MR imaging (DWI) protocol. Global brain topological organization was assessed measuring segregation and integration indexes. Moreover, structural matrices, measuring normalized number of fibers (NFn), were compared between the 2 groups using network-based statistics. Finally, a linear regression model was used to explore the relationship between network parameters and clinical measures. Results showed increased behavioral difficulties and ELA, together with decreased network integration in BIF children. Moreover, significantly lower NFn was observed in the BIF group (p=.039) in a sub-network comprising anterior and posterior cingulate, the pericallosal sulcus, the orbital frontal areas, amygdala, basal ganglia, the accumbens nucleus, and the hippocampus. Linear regression showed that NFn significantly predicted IQ (p<.0001). This study demonstrated that ELA in children with BIF is associated with a decreased information integration at the global level, and with an altered structural connectivity within the limbic system strictly related to the intellectual functioning.
Highlights
There is compelling evidence that Early Life Adversities (ELA) in childhood, such as low socio-economic status (SES), maltreatment, neglect, and high levels of parental/family stress, are major risk factors for mental health disorders [1, 2]
Children with borderline intellectual functioning (BIF) have a risk as adults to develop mental health problems, physical problems and poverty compared to people with average or above average intelligence quotient (IQ) [18,19,20]
Due to excessive head movement during the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evaluation, 10 children with BIF and 4 typical development (TD) were excluded from the data
Summary
There is compelling evidence that Early Life Adversities (ELA) in childhood, such as low socio-economic status (SES), maltreatment, neglect, and high levels of parental/family stress, are major risk factors for mental health disorders [1, 2]. Several neuroimaging studies investigating the impact of ELA revealed that low SES, maltreatment and neglect, if experienced during childhood, are associated with abnormal brain function and development in several regions, within the limbic system [3,4,5] These data have been considered as part of the biological substrate of the “latent vulnerability” [6] according to which the alterations observed at the structural and functional level in several neurobiological systems reflect the (mal)adaptation to neglectful and/or abusive early environments. These changes are likely to be beneficial within the maladaptive context but represent a long-term cost for the subject, increasing vulnerability to future stressors [6]. These data show that BIF is a highly relevant condition for the prognosis and treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders in childhood
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