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This page is an AI-assisted Turkish summary of the study presented at the 26th World Congress of Psychiatry. The study belongs to the presenting authors; please refer to the original source when citing it.

EV0178

Longitudinal white matter volume abnormalities in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder followed throughout adolescence

LONGITUDINAL WHITE MATTER VOLUMES ABNORMALITIES IN ADOLESCENTS WITH ASD FOLLOWED-UP THROUGH ADOLESCENCE

Increased white matter volume detected in the periventricular and subventricular regions at age 14 in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder is no longer present at age 22, suggesting delayed maturation.

The aim was to longitudinally investigate whether adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit white matter (WM) abnormalities in the subventricular zone (SVZ) associated with persistent subplate neurons. White matter volumes at ages 14 and 22 were compared in participants drawn from the IMAGEN general population cohort (n>2000). The study examined 41 participants diagnosed with ASD at age 14 using the DAWBA (29 males, 12 females; mean age 14.45, SD 0.37) and 53 healthy controls matched for age and study site (29 males, 24 females; mean age 14.45, SD 0.38); 21 participants in the ASD group (14 males, 7 females) were assessed at follow-up 8 years later. Imaging was performed using 3-Tesla T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging, and whole-brain voxel-based morphometry was conducted using SPM12 and CAT12 with 8 mm FWHM smoothing. Analyses used a general linear model (GLM), with age, sex assigned at birth, and scanner type as covariates, applying an FWE-corrected threshold of p<0.05 and a cluster threshold of k=50 voxels. At age 14, the mean social skills scale score was 15.7 (SD 7.3) in the ASD group and 26.7 (SD 6.6; p<0.0001) in controls, and the ASD group showed greater white matter volume in the periventricular and subventricular regions along the caudate nucleus (x=19.5, y=-27, z=19.5). At age 22, no between-group difference in white matter volume was found, while longitudinal analysis demonstrated a significant group-by-time interaction in the same region. According to the authors, greater SVZ white matter volume may indicate delayed maturation and persistent subplate neurons in the periventricular striatal region, but this maturational delay resolves by young adulthood.

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