Multimodal brain age indicators of internalising problems in early adolescence: A longitudinal investigation

Niamh MacSweeney; Dani Beck; Lucy Whitmore; Kathryn L Mills; Lars T Westlye; Tilmann von Soest; Lia Ferschmann; Christian K Tamnes

doi:10.1016/j.bpsc.2024.11.003

Multimodal brain age indicators of internalising problems in early adolescence: A longitudinal investigation

Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging. 2024 Nov 18:S2451-9022(24)00340-9. doi: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2024.11.003. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Niamh MacSweeney¹, Dani Beck², Lucy Whitmore³, Kathryn L Mills³, Lars T Westlye⁴, Tilmann von Soest⁵, Lia Ferschmann⁵, Christian K Tamnes²

Affiliations

¹ PROMENTA Research Centre, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway; Division of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Diakonhjemmet Hospital, Oslo, Norway. Electronic address: niamh.macsweeney@psykologi.uio.no.
² PROMENTA Research Centre, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway; Division of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Diakonhjemmet Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
³ Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA.
⁴ Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway; Section for Precision Psychiatry, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway; KG Jebsen Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Oslo, Norway.
⁵ PROMENTA Research Centre, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway.

PMID: 39566883
DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2024.11.003

Abstract

Background: Adolescence is a time of increased risk for the onset of internalising problems, particularly in females. However, how individual differences in brain maturation relate to the increased vulnerability for internalising problems in adolescence remains poorly understood due to a scarcity of longitudinal studies.

Methods: Using Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study data, we examined longitudinal associations between multimodal brain age and youth internalising problems. Brain age models were trained, validated, and tested independently on T1-weighted (T1; N=9523), diffusion tensor (DTI; N=8834), and resting-state functional (rs-fMRI; N=8233) MRI data at baseline (M_age= 9.9 years) and 2-year follow-up (M_age= 11.9 years). Self-reported internalising problems were measured at 3-year follow-up (M_age= 12.9 years) using the Brief Problem Monitor.

Results: Latent change score models demonstrated that although brain age gap (BAG) at baseline was not related to later internalising problems, an increase in BAG between timepoints was positively associated with internalising problems at 3-year follow-up in females but not males. This association between an increasing BAG and higher internalising problems was observed in the T1 (β = 0.067, SE = 0.050, p_FDR = 0.020) and rs-fMRI β = 0.090, SE = 0.025, p_FDR = 0.007) models but not DTI (β=-0.002, SE=0.053, p_FDR = 0.932), and remained significant when accounting for earlier internalising problems.

Conclusions: A greater increase in BAG in early adolescence may reflect the heightened vulnerability shown by female youth to internalising problems. Longitudinal research is necessary to understand if this increasing BAG signifies accelerated brain development and its relationship to the trajectory of internalising problems throughout adolescence.

Keywords: ABCD Study; adolescence; brain age; development; internalising problems; longitudinal.