Multivariate Classification of Adolescent Major Depressive Disorder Using Whole-brain Functional Connectivity

Abstract

Rationale and Objectives

Adolescent major depressive disorder (MDD) is a serious mental health condition that has been linked to abnormal functional connectivity (FC) patterns within the brain. However, whether FC could be used as a potential biomarker for diagnosis of adolescent MDD is still unclear. The aim of our study was to investigate the potential diagnostic value of whole-brain FC in adolescent MDD.

Methods

Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data were obtained from 94 adolescents with MDD and 78 healthy adolescents. The whole brain was segmented into 90 regions of interest (ROIs) using the automated anatomical labeling atlas. FC was assessed by calculating the Pearson correlation coefficient of the average time series between each pair of ROIs. A multivariate pattern analysis was employed to classify patients from controls using the whole-brain FC as input features.

Results

The linear support vector machine classifier achieved an accuracy of 69.18% using the optimal functional connection features. The consensus functional connections were mainly located within and between large-scale brain networks. The top 10 nodes with the highest weight in the classification model were mainly located in the default mode, salience, auditory, and sensorimotor networks.

Conclusion

Our findings highlighted the importance of functional network connectivity in the neurobiology of adolescent MDD, and suggested the possibility of altered FC and high-weight regions as complementary diagnostic markers in adolescents with depression.