Cortical Complexity in Anorexia Nervosa: A Fractal Dimension Analysis

Collantoni, Enrico; Madan, Christopher R.; Meneguzzo, Paolo; Chiappini, Iolanna; Tenconi, Elena; Manara, Renzo; Favaro, Angela

Abstract

Fractal Dimension (FD) has shown to be a promising means to describe the morphology of cortical structures across different neurologic and psychiatric conditions, displaying a good sensitivity in capturing atrophy processes. In this study, we aimed at exploring the morphology of cortical areas by means of FD in 58 female patients with Anorexia Nervosa (AN) (38 currently underweight and 20 fully recovered) and 38 healthy controls (HC). All participants underwent high-resolution MRI. Surface extraction was completed using FreeSurfer, FD was computed using the calcFD toolbox. The whole cortex mean FD value was lower in acute AN patients compared to HC (p < 0.001). Recovered AN patients did not show differences in the global FD when compared to HC. However, some brain areas showed higher FD in patients than controls, while others showed the opposite pattern. Parietal regions showed lower FD in both AN groups. In acute AN patients, the FD correlated with age (p < 0.001), body mass index (p = 0.019) and duration of illness (p = 0.011). FD seems to represent a feasible method to explore cortical complexity in patients with AN since it demonstrated to be sensitive to the effects of both severity and duration of malnutrition.

Citation

Collantoni, E., Madan, C. R., Meneguzzo, P., Chiappini, I., Tenconi, E., Manara, R., & Favaro, A. (2020). Cortical Complexity in Anorexia Nervosa: A Fractal Dimension Analysis. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 9(3), 833. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9030833

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 17, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Mar 19, 2020
• Publication Date: Mar 19, 2020
• Deposit Date: May 19, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: May 19, 2020
• Journal: Journal of Clinical Medicine
• Electronic ISSN: 2077-0383
• Publisher: MDPI
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 833
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9030833
• Keywords: eating disorders; anorexia nervosa; malnutrition; neuroimaging; fractal dimension; cortical complexity
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4168805
• Publisher URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/9/3/833