Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) occurs in ~11% of North American pregnancies and is the most common known cause of neurodevelopmental disabilities such as fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD; ~2–5% prevalence). PAE has been consistently associated with smaller gray matter volumes in children, adolescents, and adults. A small number of longitudinal studies show altered gray matter development trajectories in late childhood/early adolescence, but patterns in early childhood and potential sex differences have not been characterized in young children. Using longitudinal T1-weighted MRI, the present study characterized gray matter volume development in young children with PAE (N = 42, 84 scans, ages 3–8 years) compared to unexposed children (N = 127, 450 scans, ages 2–8.5 years). Overall, we observed altered global and regional gray matter development trajectories in the PAE group, wherein they had attenuated age-related increases and more volume decreases relative to unexposed children. Moreover, we found more pronounced sex differences in children with PAE; females with PAE having the smallest gray matter volumes and the least age-related changes of all groups. This pattern of altered development may indicate reduced brain plasticity and/or accelerated maturation and may underlie the cognitive/behavioral difficulties often experienced by children with PAE. In conjunction with previous research on older children, adolescents, and adults with PAE, our results suggest that gray matter volume differences associated with PAE vary by age and may become more apparent in older children.

中文翻译：

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性别和年龄对产前酒精暴露幼儿灰质体积轨迹的影响

产前酒精暴露 (PAE) 发生在约 11% 的北美妊娠中，是导致胎儿酒精谱系障碍 (FASD；患病率约 2-5%) 等神经发育障碍的最常见原因。 PAE 一直与儿童、青少年和成人灰质体积较小有关。少数纵向研究表明，童年晚期/青春期早期的灰质发育轨迹发生了变化，但幼儿时期的模式和潜在的性别差异尚未在幼儿中得到表征。本研究使用纵向 T1 加权 MRI，描述了患有 PAE 的幼儿灰质体积的发育情况（氮= 42, 84 次扫描，年龄 3-8 岁）与未暴露儿童相比（氮= 127, 450 次扫描，年龄 2–8.5 岁）。总体而言，我们观察到 PAE 组的整体和区域灰质发育轨迹发生了变化，其中与未暴露的儿童相比，与年龄相关的增加减弱，体积减少更多。此外，我们发现患有 PAE 的儿童存在更明显的性别差异。患有 PAE 的女性在所有群体中灰质体积最小，且与年龄相关的变化最小。这种发育改变模式可能表明大脑可塑性降低和/或加速成熟，并且可能是患有 PAE 的儿童经常经历的认知/行为困难的基础。结合之前对患有 PAE 的年龄较大儿童、青少年和成人的研究，我们的结果表明，与 PAE 相关的灰质体积差异因年龄而异，并且在年龄较大的儿童中可能更为明显。