TY - JOUR
T1 - Brain structural alterations in left-behind children
T2 - A magnetic resonance imaging study
AU - Fu, Yuchuan
AU - Xiao, Yuan
AU - Du, Meimei
AU - Mao, Chuanwan
AU - Fu, Gui
AU - Yang, Lili
AU - Liu, Xiaozheng
AU - Sweeney, John A.
AU - Lui, Su
AU - Yan, Zhihan
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 81371527, 81671664, and 81621003), Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation (No. LY19H180003), Zhejiang Medical Health Science and Technology Program (Nos. 2017KY108 and 2017ZD024), Sichuan University Postdoctoral Interdisciplinary Fund (No. 55, 2018), and Postdoctoral Research Project, West China Hospital, Sichuan University. SL would like to acknowledge the support from Chang Jiang Scholars (Award No. Q2015154) of China and the National Program for Support of Top-notch Young Professionals (National Program for Special Support of Eminent Professionals, Organization Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, Award No. W02070140).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Fu, Xiao, Du, Mao, Fu, Yang, Liu, Sweeney, Lui and Yan.
PY - 2019/4/24
Y1 - 2019/4/24
N2 - Parental migration has caused millions of children left behind, especially in China and India. Left-behind children (LBC) have a high risk of mental disorders and may present negative life outcomes in the future. However, little is known whether there are cerebral structural alterations in LBC in relative to those with parents. This study is to explore the effect of parental migration on brain maturation by comparing gray matter volume (GMV) and fractional anisotropy (FA) of LBC with well-matched non-LBC. Thirty-eight LBC (21 boys, age = 9.60 ± 1.8 years) and 30 non-LBC (19 boys, age = 10.00 ± 1.95 years) were recruited and underwent brain scans in 3.0 T MR. Intelligence quotient and other factors including family income, guardians’ educational level and separation time were also acquired. GMV and FA were measured for each participant and compared between groups using 2-sample t-tests with atlas-based analysis. Compared to non-LBC, LBC exhibited greater GMV in emotional and cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical circuits, and altered FA in bilateral superior occipitofrontal fasciculi and right medial lemniscus (p < 0.05, Cohen’s d > 0.89, corrected for false-discovery rate). Other factors including family income, guardians’ educational level and separation time were not associated with these brain changes. Our study provides empirical evidence of altered brain structure in LBC compared to non-LBC, responsible for emotion regulation and processing, which may account for mental disorders and negative life outcome of LBC. Our study suggests that absence of direct biological parental care may impact children’s brain development. Therefore, public health efforts may be needed to provide additional academic and social/emotional supports to LBC when their parents migrate to seeking better economic circumstances, which has become increasingly common in developing countries.
AB - Parental migration has caused millions of children left behind, especially in China and India. Left-behind children (LBC) have a high risk of mental disorders and may present negative life outcomes in the future. However, little is known whether there are cerebral structural alterations in LBC in relative to those with parents. This study is to explore the effect of parental migration on brain maturation by comparing gray matter volume (GMV) and fractional anisotropy (FA) of LBC with well-matched non-LBC. Thirty-eight LBC (21 boys, age = 9.60 ± 1.8 years) and 30 non-LBC (19 boys, age = 10.00 ± 1.95 years) were recruited and underwent brain scans in 3.0 T MR. Intelligence quotient and other factors including family income, guardians’ educational level and separation time were also acquired. GMV and FA were measured for each participant and compared between groups using 2-sample t-tests with atlas-based analysis. Compared to non-LBC, LBC exhibited greater GMV in emotional and cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical circuits, and altered FA in bilateral superior occipitofrontal fasciculi and right medial lemniscus (p < 0.05, Cohen’s d > 0.89, corrected for false-discovery rate). Other factors including family income, guardians’ educational level and separation time were not associated with these brain changes. Our study provides empirical evidence of altered brain structure in LBC compared to non-LBC, responsible for emotion regulation and processing, which may account for mental disorders and negative life outcome of LBC. Our study suggests that absence of direct biological parental care may impact children’s brain development. Therefore, public health efforts may be needed to provide additional academic and social/emotional supports to LBC when their parents migrate to seeking better economic circumstances, which has become increasingly common in developing countries.
KW - Cognition
KW - Fractional anisotropy
KW - Gray matter volume
KW - Left-behind children
KW - MRI
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85067019446&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85067019446&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fncir.2019.00033
DO - 10.3389/fncir.2019.00033
M3 - Article
C2 - 31133820
AN - SCOPUS:85067019446
SN - 1662-5110
VL - 13
JO - Frontiers in Neural Circuits
JF - Frontiers in Neural Circuits
M1 - 33
ER -