Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2020 Nov;59(11):1285-1296. doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2019.12.006. Epub 2020 Jan 23.
Co-occurrence of behavioral and emotional problems in childhood is widespread, and previous studies have suggested that this reflects vulnerability to experience a range of psychiatric problems, often termed a general psychopathology factor. However, the neurobiological substrate of this general factor is not well understood. We tested the hypothesis that lower overall white matter microstructure is associated with higher levels of the general psychopathology factor in children and less with specific factors.
Global white matter microstructure at age 10 years was related to general and specific psychopathology factors. These factors were estimated using a latent bifactor model with multiple informants and instruments between ages 6 and 10 years in 3,030 children from the population-based birth cohort Generation R. The association of global white matter microstructure and the psychopathology factors was examined with a structural equation model adjusted for sex, age at scan, age at psychopathology assessment, parental education/income, and genetic ancestry.
A 1-SD increase of the global white matter factor was associated with a β = -0.07SD (standard error [SE] = 0.02, p < .01) decrease in general psychopathology. In contrast, a 1-SD increase of white matter microstructure predicted an increase of β = +0.07 SD (SE = 0.03, p < .01) specific externalizing factor levels. No association was found with the specific internalizing and specific attention factor.
The results suggest that general psychopathology in childhood is related to white matter structure across the brain and not only to specific tracts. Taking into account general psychopathology may also help reveal neurobiological mechanisms behind specific symptoms that are otherwise obscured by comorbidity.
儿童行为和情绪问题的共病现象较为普遍，既往研究提示这种共病现象反映了个体易出现一系列精神疾病，通常被称为一般精神病理因素。然而，这一一般因素的神经生物学基础尚不清楚。我们检验了如下假设，即整体白质微观结构较差与儿童一般精神病理因素水平较高相关，而与特定因素相关性较低。
在年龄为 10 岁时，整体白质微观结构与一般和特定精神病理因素相关。这些因素使用基于人群的出生队列 Generation R 中 3030 名儿童在 6 至 10 岁期间使用多个来源和工具进行的潜在双因素模型来估计。在调整了性别、扫描年龄、精神病理评估年龄、父母教育/收入和遗传背景后，使用结构方程模型来检验整体白质微观结构与精神病理因素的关联。
整体白质因素增加 1 个标准差与一般精神病理降低 0.07 个标准差（标准误差[SE]为 0.02，p <.01）相关。相比之下，白质微观结构增加 1 个标准差预测特定外化因素水平增加β=0.07 个标准差（SE 为 0.03，p <.01）。与特定内化和特定注意力因素无关联。
结果表明，儿童期的一般精神病理与大脑中的白质结构有关，而不仅仅与特定束有关。考虑一般精神病理也有助于揭示特定症状背后的神经生物学机制，而这些机制在其他方面被共病所掩盖。
