Associations between pre-pandemic brain connectivity, maternal depression, and adolescents' depression during the pandemic lockdown

• In Event: Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Topic - Solicited Content: COVID-19 Related

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic, and the measures taken to control its spread, are an unprecedented stressor. While the pandemic is affecting individuals of all ages, adolescents may be especially vulnerable to internalizing symptoms (i.e., anxiety and depression) related to this stressor, given that it has led to social isolation, restrictions on activities, and disruptions in the homes of many youth. We aim to identify the neurobiological correlates of adolescents’ vulnerability to COVID-19-related stress by linking previously collected data on resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) to youths’ behavioral, cognitive, and emotional responses to the pandemic. Heightened rs-FC between the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) is known to be associated with anxiety and depression. As key regions of the default mode network, hyper-connectivity between these regions may reflect excessive self-focus and ruminative processes, which play a mechanistic role in internalizing psychopathology (see meta-analysis by Hamilton, Farmer, Fogelman, & Gotlib, 2015). Therefore, we predicted that youths with heightened mPFC-PCC rs-FC before the pandemic would show more negative responses during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Eighty-five adolescents (Mage = 14.26, SD = 0.71) from the community were previously assessed in rs-FC around age 11 (Mage = 11.09, SD = 0.66). In March 2020, after measures designed to prevent COVID-19 spread came into effect, youths and their mothers completed online assessments of concerns and avoidance behaviors related to COVID-19, internalizing symptoms, and impact of the pandemic on their daily lives.
For both concerns and avoidance behaviors, a latent growth model was fit on the first eight waves of data collected across two-week intervals during March 23-July 12, 2020. Age 11 mPFC-PCC connectivity was modeled to predict initial concerns about COVID-19 (i.e., intercept) and change over time (i.e., linear slope). We also estimated the intercept and slope of youths’ internalizing symptoms over time, which, together with their internalizing symptoms assessed concurrently with rs-FC (i.e., at age 11), were modelled as covariates. Heightened mPFC-PCC rs-FC at age 11 was associated with greater initial youth concerns about COVID-19 (i.e., the intercept) above and beyond youths’ general internalizing symptoms (Figure 1). No association with avoidance behaviors was found. In forthcoming analysis, we will examine whether the impact of COVID-19 moderate the association between prior rs-FC and COVID-19 concerns, predicting that that youths from families that have been more negatively impacted would show stronger associations between rs-FC and concerns. This study will provide important initial evidence for the mPFC-PCC connectivity as a potential neurobiological predictor of adolescents’ responses in dealing with the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Authors

• Pan Liu, University of Western Ontario
  Presenting Author

• Andrew R. Daoust, Western University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Matthew R. J. Vandermeer, University of Western Ontario
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kasey Stanton
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kate Harkness, Queen's University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Elizabeth P. Hayden, University of Western Ontario
  Non-Presenting Author