0778 Functional thalamo-cortical connectivity relates to sleep-onset problems in early infancy

Abstract

Introduction Healthy sleep patterns are crucial for proper brain development in infancy. However, little is known about the relationship between early sleep disturbances and functional brain connectivity. The thalamus plays a critical role in the regulation of sleep and wakefulness, and undergoes rapid growth in the first year. Therefore, we examined how early thalamic connectivity relates to sleep-onset problems during the first 6 months of life. Methods All data were collected as part of the Baby Connectome Project (1U01MH110274). Forty-six infants (between 3-5 months old) underwent resting-state fMRI scans during natural sleep. The fMRI data were preprocessed and analyzed using FSL, and the bilateral thalamus was used in seed-based analyses. The Infant Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ) was used to create a measure of sleep initiation. Five IBQ items (21-25) were reverse-scored and averaged to generate the Infant Sleep-Onset Problems (ISOP) score, with higher scores indicating longer sleep latencies. ISOP scores across 3-6 months were used as regressors in whole-brain analyses. Results Preliminary results suggest a positive correlation between ISOP scores and connectivity between the thalamus and precuneus, such that greater sleep-onset problems were associated with stronger connectivity between the thalamus and precuneus. In contrast, there was a negative correlation between ISOP scores and connectivity between the thalamus and anterior cingulate cortex, such that fewer sleep-onset problems were associated with stronger connectivity between the thalamus and anterior cingulate cortex. Conclusion Our findings suggest that stronger thalamic connectivity with the precuneus, a region involved in the perception and integration of information, is related to greater sleep initiation difficulties. In contrast, stronger connectivity between the thalamus and anterior cingulate cortex, a region involved in attention allocation and emotional regulation, is associated with less sleep initiation problems. While these results are preliminary, they indicate that early sleep problems are associated with altered development of functional thalamo-cortical networks. Support (if any)