Associations Between Resting State Functional Brain Connectivity and Childhood Anhedonia: A Reproduction and Replication Study

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundPreviously, a study using a sample of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD)® study from the earlier 1.0 release found differences in several resting state functional MRI (rsfMRI) brain connectivity measures associated with children reporting anhedonia. Here, we aim to reproduce, replicate, and extend the previous findings using data from the later ABCD study 4.0 release, which includes a significantly larger sample.MethodsTo reproduce and replicate the previous authors’ findings, we analyzed data from the ABCD 1.0 release (n = 2437), in an independent subsample from the newer ABCD 4.0 release (n = 6456), and in the full ABCD 4.0 release sample (n = 8866). Additionally, we assessed whether using a multiple linear regression approach could improve replicability by controlling for the effects of comorbid psychiatric conditions and socio-demographic covariates.ResultsWe could only replicate the significant association between anhedonia and theWithin Cingulo-Opercular network connectivitymeasure in an independent subsample of the ABCD 4.0 data release. When using the larger full ABCD 4.0 sample, six out of the eleven previously reported associations remained significant. Accounting for socio-demographic covariates and comorbid conditions using multiple linear regression did not improve replicability but allowed for the identification of specific and independent effects of anhedonia on 16 rsfMRI connectivity measures in the full ABCD 4.0 release sample.ConclusionReplication of previous findings were limited. A multiple linear regression approach helped resolve the specificity of rsfMRI connectivity associations with anhedonia.