Altered Connectome Topology in Newborns at Risk for Cognitive Developmental Delay: A Cross-Etiologic Study.

ABSTRACT: The human brain connectome is characterized by the duality of highly modular structure and efficient integration, supporting information processing. Newborns with congenital heart disease (CHD), prematurity, or spina bifida aperta (SBA) constitute a population at risk for altered brain development and developmental delay (DD). We hypothesize that, independent of etiology, alterations of connectomic organization reflect neural circuitry impairments in cognitive DD. Our study aim is to address this knowledge gap by using a multi-etiologic neonatal dataset to reveal potential commonalities and distinctions in the structural brain connectome and their associations with DD. We used diffusion tensor imaging of 187 newborns (42 controls, 51 with CHD, 51 with prematurity, and 43 with SBA). Structu

SUBMITTER: Speckert A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11718324 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature