1. A preliminary examination of brain morphometry in youth with Down syndrome with and without parent-reported sleep difficulties
- Author
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Taralee Hamner, Nancy Raitano Lee, Elizabeth I. Adeyemi, Liv S. Clasen, and Megan Perez
- Subjects
030506 rehabilitation ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Neural correlates of consciousness ,Down syndrome ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,05 social sciences ,Brain morphometry ,Sleep apnea ,Magnetic resonance imaging ,Audiology ,medicine.disease ,Sleep in non-human animals ,Comorbidity ,Article ,03 medical and health sciences ,Clinical Psychology ,Frontal lobe ,Developmental and Educational Psychology ,medicine ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,0305 other medical science ,Psychology ,050104 developmental & child psychology - Abstract
Background Down syndrome is associated with poor sleep but little is known about its neural correlates. Aims The current research compared brain morphometry in youth with Down syndrome with parent-reported sleep problems (DS-S) to peers with Down syndrome (DS) and typical development (TD) without parent-reported sleep problems matched on age (M = 15.15) and sex ratio (62 % female). Methods and procedures Magnetic resonance imaging was completed on a 3 T scanner. Participants were stratified into groups based on parent-report: DS-S (n = 17), DS (n = 9), TD (n = 22). Brain morphometry, processed with the FreeSurfer Image Analysis Suite, was compared across groups. In addition, the co-occurrence of medical conditions in the DS groups was examined. Outcomes and results Youth with DS-S had reduced total, frontal, parietal, and temporal brain volumes relative to DS and TD peers. They also had higher rates of congenital heart defects than the DS-only group; however, this comorbidity did not appear to account for morphometry differences. Conclusions and implications Parent-reported sleep problems in DS appear to relate to global and localized volume reductions. These preliminary results have implications for understanding the neural correlates of poor sleep in DS; they also highlight the importance of examining relations between sleep and other medical comorbidities.
- Published
- 2020
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