Associations between Family Adversity and Brain Volume in Adolescence: Manual vs. Automated Brain Segmentation Yields Different Results

Abstract

Associations between brain structure and early adversity have been inconsistent in the literature. These inconsistencies may be partially due to methodological differences. Different methods of brain segmentation may produce different results, obscuring the relationship between early adversity and brain volume. Moreover, adolescence is a time of significant brain growth and certain brain areas have distinct rates of development, which may compromise the accuracy of automated segmentation approaches. In the current study, 23 adolescents participated in two waves of a longitudinal study. Family aggression was measured when the youths were 12 years old, and structural scans were acquired an average of 4 years later. Bilateral amygdalae and hippocampi were segmented using three different methods (manual tracing, FSL, and NeuroQuant). The segmentation estimates were compared, and linear regressions were run to assess the relationship between early family aggression exposure and all three volume segmentation estimates. Manual tracing results showed a positive relationship between family aggression and right amygdala volume, whereas FSL segmentation showed negative relationships between family aggression and both the left and right hippocampi. However, results indicate poor overlap between methods, and different associations were found between early family aggression exposure and brain volume depending on the segmentation method used.

Longitudinal Associations Between Family Aggression, Externalizing Behavior, and the Structure and Function of the Amygdala

“…As previously reported (Lyden et al., ), greater family aggression exposure (assessed in early adolescence) predicted larger manually traced right amygdala volume in late adolescence, with a similar positive association at a marginal level of significance for the left amygdala. Our new analyses also found that right amygdala volume was positively correlated with externalizing behavior in mid‐adolescence, as shown in Tables and .…”

“…This study used a longitudinal design to test associations between family aggression in early adolescence, externalizing behavior in early and mid‐adolescence, and the structure and function of the amygdala in late adolescence within a sample of community youth. We found that larger right amygdala volumes, which we had previously reported to be linked with family aggression in early adolescence (Lyden et al., ), were also associated with more youth self‐reported externalizing behavior in mid‐adolescence, and that these associations held when we controlled for externalizing behavior in early adolescence. We also found that patterns of resting state connectivity between the amygdalae and other brain regions were associated both with family aggression and with externalizing behavior.…”

“…Previously, we reported that family aggression exposure predicted larger right amygdala volumes in a community sample of adolescents (Lyden et al, 2016). This study extends these findings within this sample by exploring whether externalizing behavior also predicts amygdala volume, and whether resting state connectivity of the amygdala to other brain regions is associated with both family aggression and externalizing behaviors.…”

“…Although we used manual tracing of the amygdala in this article, we did not attempt to subdivide the amygdala into subregions, although there is evidence that the amygdala consists of several subregions that may have different patterns of connectivity. Finally, an earlier investigation using this sample found discrepancies in brain volume measured via manual tracing versus automated segmentation (Lyden et al, 2016). Manual tracing is traditionally considered the "gold standard" and should give the most accurate depiction of brain volume given that the volumes are calculated based on each individual's actual brain images, and not a preset atlas using normative adult brains.…”

Translational MRI Volumetry with NeuroQuant: Effects of Version and Normative Data on Relationships with Memory Performance in Healthy Older Adults and Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment

“…These findings indicate that NQ1 and NQ2 values are not interchangeable and warrant caution when attempting to use particular values cutoffs that are based on NQ1 data. We did not determine whether one NQ version is more accurate than the other since this would require manual-tracing or other well-established methods [10, 34] including histopathological correlation. Regardless, medial temporal lobe regions generally maintained relationships with learning and memory performances in both NQ version, as in our earlier report [13].…”