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Objective: This observational study aimed to: (i) describe and explore preliminary psychometric properties of a multidimensional sleep health composite score in adolescent females with frequent migraine; and (ii) examine associations between the composite score, headache characteristics, and emotional health. Background: Sleep health is a multidimensional construct comprised of various dimensions of sleep and circadian functioning, including Regularity, Satisfaction, Alertness, Timing, Efficiency, and Duration (Ru‐SATED framework). The Ru‐SATED sleep health composite score may provide a holistic perspective of sleep among adolescents with frequent migraine in the context of neurobiological and psychosocial impacts on sleep unique to this developmental period. Methods: In all, 60 female adolescents (aged 12–18 years) with high‐frequency episodic or chronic migraine completed wrist‐worn actigraphy for 10 days and concurrent daily electronic surveys assessing headache, sleep, and emotional health. A sleep health composite score was derived from empirically supported "healthy" versus "unhealthy" ratings on the six Ru‐SATED sleep dimensions. Results: Half of participants (27/54 [50%]) had a composite score ≥4 (i.e., at least four of the six dimensions rated as poor). Convergent validity of the composite score was acceptable (rs = 0.30–0.56, all p < 0.05). Internal consistency among the dimensions was low (α = 0.45). Multivariate multiple regression models indicated that worse sleep health was associated with greater headache‐related disability (B = 0.71, p = 0.018) and anxiety (B = 0.59, p = 0.010), and trended toward significance for sadness (B = 0.35, p = 0.052). The composite score was not significantly associated with headache frequency or severity. Conclusions: A multidimensional sleep health composite score may provide an alternative, more comprehensive picture of sleep disturbance among adolescent females with frequent migraine. Larger studies are needed to examine psychometric properties more rigorously and further explore the composite score as a potentially unique predictor of headache outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the keys to understanding scholastic success is to determine the neural processes involved in school performance. The present study is the first to use a whole-brain connectivity approach to explore whether functional connectivity of resting state brain networks is associated with scholastic performance in seventy-four 7- to 9-year-old children. We demonstrate that children with higher scholastic performance across reading, math and language have more integrated and interconnected resting state networks, specifically the default mode network, salience network, and frontoparietal network. To add specificity, core regions of the dorsal attention and visual networks did not relate to scholastic performance. The results extend the cognitive role of brain networks in children as well as suggest the importance of network connectivity in scholastic success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing evidence suggests that aerobic fitness benefits the brain and cognition during childhood. The present study is the first to explore cortical brain structure of higher fit and lower fit 9- and 10-year-old children, and how aerobic fitness and cortical thickness relate to academic achievement. We demonstrate that higher fit children (>70th percentile VO2max) showed decreased gray matter thickness in superior frontal cortex, superior temporal areas, and lateral occipital cortex, coupled with better mathematics achievement, compared to lower fit children (<30th percentile VO2max). Furthermore, cortical gray matter thinning in anterior and superior frontal areas was associated with superior arithmetic performance. Together, these data add to our knowledge of the biological markers of school achievement, particularly mathematics achievement, and raise the possibility that individual differences in aerobic fitness play an important role in cortical gray matter thinning during brain maturation. The establishment of predictors of academic performance is key to helping educators focus on interventions to maximize learning and success across the lifespan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individual differences in brain network modularity at baseline can predict improvements in cognitive performance after cognitive and physical interventions. This study is the first to explore whether brain network modularity predicts changes in cortical brain structure in 8‐ to 9‐year‐old children involved in an after‐school physical activity intervention (N = 62), relative to children randomized to a wait‐list control group (N = 53). For children involved in the physical activity intervention, brain network modularity at baseline predicted greater decreases in cortical thickness in the anterior frontal cortex and parahippocampus. Further, for children involved in the physical activity intervention, greater decrease in cortical thickness was associated with improvements in cognitive efficiency. The relationships among baseline modularity, changes in cortical thickness, and changes in cognitive performance were not present in the wait‐list control group. Our exploratory study has promising implications for the understanding of brain network modularity as a biomarker of intervention‐related improvements with physical activity. The present study is the first to show that brain network modularity at baseline predicted change in brain structure in children involved in a physical activity intervention. Further, intervention‐related changes in cortical thickness were associated with changes in cognition. The associations between modularity, change in cortical thickness, and cognition were not present in a wait‐list control group. The results have implications for modularity as a biomarker of intervention‐related changes with physical activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]