Neural Correlates of Obesity and Inflammation in Children and Adolescents with Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia
Authors' conclusion
Relationships among key brain structures, body composition, and inflammatory markers in pediatric patients with CAH could be largely driven by having CAH, with implications for obesity and neuroinflammation in this high-risk population.
Study context
- Population
- Children and adolescents with classical congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) and controls; MRI of gray matter regions of interest (PFC, amygdala, hippocampus) and white matter microstructure (fornix, stria terminalis)
- Participants
- 27 vs 35
- Exposure
- CAH vs controls
- CAHn = 27
- Controln = 35reference
- Outcome
- Brain structure differences, CAH vs controls (β [CI])
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
- CAH
- β, caudal middle frontal subregion volume −0.56 (CI −0.96 to −0.15); all p's < 0.05
- CAH
- β, superior frontal subregion volume −0.58 (CI −0.92 to −0.25); all p's < 0.05
- CAH
- β, orientation dispersion index in fornix 0.56 (CI 0.01–1.10); all p's < 0.05
- CAH
- β, orientation dispersion index in ST 0.85 (CI 0.34–1.36); all p's < 0.05
- CAH
- β, fractional anisotropy in fornix −0.91 (CI −1.42 to −0.42); all p's < 0.05
- CAH
- β, fractional anisotropy in ST −0.83 (CI −1.34 to −0.33); all p's < 0.05
- PFC: % variance most different between CAH and controls (gray matter)
- 13.3%
- Superior frontal (SF) subregion: % variance
- 14%
- ST: % variance most different (white matter)
- 16%
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Correlations of brain structure with obesity and inflammation, full cohort
- SF vs MCP-1, r
- −0.41
- SF vs visceral adipose tissue, r
- −0.25
- SF vs waist-to-height ratio, r
- −0.27
- ST vs MCP-1, r
- 0.31
- ST vs TNF-α, r
- 0.29
- After adjusting for CAH status, almost all correlations were attenuated for significance
- All p's < 0.05 (unadjusted)
Original publication
Neural Correlates of Obesity and Inflammation in Children and Adolescents with Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia. Horm Res Paediatr. Published 19 February 2024. doi:10.
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