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Exploring the impact of pediatric acquired demyelinating syndrome in brain network connectivity and its influence on neurocognitive outcomes

Poster Session D - Monday, March 31, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 am EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Florencia Ontiveros¹, Whitney I. Mattson¹, Aaron McAllister², Kelsey Poisson³, Camille S. Wilson⁴, Eric E. Nelson^1,5; ¹Center for Biobehavioral Health, Abigail Wexner Research Institute, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, ²Department of Radiology, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, ³Division of Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, ⁴Division of Pediatric Psychology and Neuropsychology, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, ⁵Department of Pediatrics, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH

Pediatric acquired demyelinating syndromes (PADS) are a group of neuroimmune disorders characterized by acute episodes of myelin injury. Although specific neurocognitive manifestations during episodes have been well characterized, the impact of PADS on systematic brain function is not completely understood. We hypothesized that PADS would negatively impact network connectivity, and adversely affect global cognitive functioning, which may be particularly impactful on brain development. Participants were 14 youth with PADS (Mage=15.93yr; Male=42.85%) and 23 matched healthy controls (HC; Mage=15.34yr; Male=30.44%). Patients with a PADS diagnosis were enrolled during hospitalization for treatment of symptoms and controls were recruited from the community. Participants completed 10 minutes of resting-state fMRI and a neurocognitive battery which included the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT-5). Preliminary results indicate a trend toward reduced connectivity within the dorsal attention (F(1,35)=3.81, p=.06) and fronto-parietal (F(1,35)=3.02, p=.09) networks among PADS patients. However, no differences were found on neuropsychological tests (ps=.13-.78). We used a regression model to predict performance on the WRAT-5 with group, network connectivity, and their interaction. The interaction term was significant, (t(32)=-2.61, p=.01), suggesting that higher connectivity of the language network predicted higher performance on the WRAT-5 in the control group but showed no relationship in the PADS group. These preliminary results suggest PADS may impact network connectivity beyond cognitive performance but may also point toward plasticity in neurocognitive outcomes in this group. Larger studies will need to confirm these findings and assess how this manifests across development.

Topic Area: METHODS: Neuroimaging