Abstract
Multiple studies have revealed that adolescent AIDS orphans have more psychosocial problems than healthy adolescents. However, little is known about whether and how the brain structures of adolescent AIDS orphans differ from those of healthy adolescents. Here, we used magnetic resonance imaging to compare adolescent AIDS orphans reared in institutions (N = 20) with a sex- and age-matched group of healthy adolescents reared in families (N = 20) in China using a voxel-based morphometry analysis. First, we found that both total gray- and white-matter volumes did not differ between groups. Second, after correcting for age, sex, and total gray-matter volume, the AIDS orphan group demonstrated smaller hippocampal volumes, larger anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) volumes, and no differences in the amygdala. Third, a whole-brain analysis identified higher gray-matter volume of the ACC in the AIDS orphan group than in the control group. The preliminary findings of this study highlight the need for future research to confirm the sensitivity of the hippocampus and ACC to early adversity.
Highlights
An estimated 17.8 million AIDS orphans < 18 years old have lost either or both parents to AIDS [1], a population that was expected to increase to 25 million by 2015 [2]
We used magnetic resonance imaging to compare adolescent AIDS orphans reared in institutions (N = 20) with a sex- and age-matched group of healthy adolescents reared in families (N = 20) in China using a voxel-based morphometry analysis
In this first volumetric study of the brain in AIDS orphans reared in institutions, we found substantial support for the hypothesis that institutionalized AIDS orphans have structural brain alternations in a previously predicted regions of interest (ROI) (PFC and hippocampus) based on previous studies [3, 17, 22]
Summary
An estimated 17.8 million AIDS orphans < 18 years old have lost either or both parents to AIDS [1], a population that was expected to increase to 25 million by 2015 [2]. AIDS orphans experience many severe early adversities such as maternal deprivation [3, 4], poverty [5, 6], stigma [7, 8], and multiple losses and erosion of family support [9]. A study with a large sample size in China shows that AIDS orphans demonstrated poorer psychological adjustment than those from HIV-free families in the same rural community [10].
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