644 - Patterns of brain activity in 0-3 months infants with eczema – a fNIRS study

Publication Number: 644.5927

Yuxuan Guo, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiao Tong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China (People's Republic); Yifan Tang, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China (People's Republic); Jiaqi Jiang, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiao Tong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China (People's Republic); Haihan zhu, The First Affiliated hospital of Xi’an Joao Tong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China (People's Republic); Lin Wang, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiao Tong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China (People's Republic); Dongli Song, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, SanJose, CA, United States; Zhongliang Zhu, Life Science College of Northwest University, XI'AN, Shaanxi, China (People's Republic); Hui Li, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiao Tong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China (People's Republic)

Background: Eczema, a common childhood inflammatory skin disease, has a significant negative impact on the affected infants and their families. Recent studies have shown that childhood atopic dermatitis is associated with cognitive dysfunction. However, little is known about how eczema affects brain development during infancy when neural connections undergo rapid changes and are highly sensitive to subsensory inputs.

Objective: To compare the patterns of functional brain networks in 0-3 months between infants with and without eczema.

Design/Methods: Resting-state functional near-infrared spectroscopy (rs-fNIRS) data were collected from a portable fNIRS device (NirSmart-6000A, China) with 22 light source probes and 16 detection probes, covering eight functional regions of interest (ROIs). Functional brain connectivity strength and global network parameters were compared between the two groups using NirSpark software. Linear correlation and regression analyses were used to determine the correlation between the eczema SOCRAD (Scoring Atopic Dermatitis) scores and functional connectivity coefficients in infants’ regions of interest (ROI).

Results: The study included 134 infants, 63 with eczema and 71 without eczema. There was no significant difference between the eczema and non-eczema groups in age, sex, weight, length, delivery mode, feeding mode, gestational age, maternal education level, and family monthly income. The strength of brain functional connectivity in the eczema group was significantly higher than in the non-eczema group (0.477±0.07 vs. 0.442±0.08, P< 0.05)（Figure1）.The main difference was observed in the prefrontal and parietal regions of the brain In eczema infants, functional connectivity coefficients of the right prefrontal cortex were positively correlated with the severity of eczema (r=0.414, P< 0.05). The results showed that the SCORAD scores of all infants’ eczema (β=0.699, p=0.001)and three groups of different severity of eczema were positively correlated with functional connectivity coefficients of RPFC (Table 1). There were no significant differences between the two groups' five topological characteristics of brain networks(P > 0.05)(Figure 2).

Conclusion(s): Compared to non-eczema infants, eczema infants showed a higher strength of brain functional connectivity at 0-3 months. The main difference was observed in the prefrontal and parietal regions that involved attention, mood, and emotion. Early treatment of eczema may improve the cognitive functions of the affected children.

Figure 1 Brain functional connectivity matrix between each channel based on HbO
(a) brain functional connectivity strength in eczema group; (b) brain functional connectivity strength in non-eczema group. The horizontal and vertical axes represent 46 channels, and the squares in the matrix represent the Pearson correlation coefficient.

Table 1. Multiple linear regression analyses predicting functional connectivity coefficients of right prefrontal cortex.
Adjusted for infants’ weight, maternal anxiety or depression. Abbreviation: right prefrontal cortex (RPFC). *p ＜ 0.05; **p ＜ 0.01; p ＞ 0.05 was considered non-significant.

Figure 2. Five global brain network parameters in the eczema and non-eczema groups. Sparsity threshold range (5%-40%)
(a) The clustering coefficient; (b) The characteristic path length; (c) The small-worldness; (d) Global efficiency; (e) Local efficiency.