Objective

Pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and clinically relevant obsessive-compulsive symptoms in the general population are associated with increased thalamic volume. It is unknown whether this enlargement is explained by specific thalamic subregions. The relation between obsessive-compulsive symptoms and volume of thalamic subregions was investigated in a population-based sample of children.

Method

Obsessive-compulsive symptoms were measured in children (9-12 years of age) from the Generation R Study using the Short Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Screener (SOCS). Thalamic nuclei volumes were extracted from structural 3T magnetic resonance imaging scans using the ThalamicNuclei pipeline and regrouped into anterior, ventral, intralaminar/medial, lateral, and pulvinar subregions. Volumes were compared between children with symptoms above clinical cutoff (probable OCD cases, SOCS ≥ 6, n = 156) and matched children without symptoms (n = 156). Linear regression models were fitted to investigate the association between continuous SOCS score and subregional volume in the whole sample (N = 2500).

Results

Children with probable OCD had larger ventral nuclei compared with children without symptoms (d = 0.25, p = .025, false discovery rate adjusted p = .126). SOCS score showed a negative association with pulvinar volume when accounting for overall thalamic volume (β = −0.057, p = .009, false discovery rate adjusted p = .09). However, these associations did not survive multiple testing correction.

Conclusion

The results suggest that individual nuclei groups contribute in varying degrees to overall thalamic volume in children with probable OCD, although this did not survive multiple comparisons correction. Understanding the role of thalamic nuclei and their associated circuits in pediatric OCD could lead toward treatment strategies targeting these circuits.

中文翻译：

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2500 名普通儿童的丘脑亚区和强迫症状

客观的

一般人群中的小儿强迫症 (OCD) 和临床相关的强迫症状与丘脑体积增加有关。尚不清楚这种扩大是否由特定的丘脑亚区解释。在基于人群的儿童样本中调查了强迫症状与丘脑亚区体积之间的关系。

方法

使用短期强迫症筛查仪 (SOCS) 在 R 代研究中测量儿童（9-12 岁）的强迫症状。使用 ThalamicNuclei 管道从结构 3T 磁共振成像扫描中提取丘脑核体积，并将其重新组合为前部、腹侧、椎板内/内侧、外侧和枕部亚区域。比较症状高于临床临界值的儿童（可能的强迫症病例，SOCS ≥ 6，n = 156）和匹配的无症状儿童（n = 156）之间的体积。拟合线性回归模型以研究整个样本（N = 2500）中连续 SOCS 评分与次区域体积之间的关联。

结果

与没有症状的儿童相比，可能患有强迫症的儿童的腹核更大（d  = 0.25，p  = .025，调整后的错误发现率p  = .126）。当考虑到整个丘脑体积时，SOCS 评分与枕部体积呈负相关（β = -0.057，p  = .009，调整后的错误发现率p  = .09）。然而，这些关联并没有在多次测试校正中幸存下来。

结论

结果表明，单个核组对可能患有强迫症的儿童的整体丘脑体积有不同程度的贡献，尽管这在多重比较校正中没有幸存下来。了解丘脑核及其相关回路在儿科强迫症中的作用可能会导致针对这些回路的治疗策略。