Investigating the Associations Between Brain Network Functional Connectivity and Health-Related Quality of Life Following a Pediatric Concussion

Concussions negatively affect adolescent health-related quality of life (HRQoL) for months post-injury. Functional connectivity (FC) within and between the default mode network (DMN), central executive network (CEN), and salience network (SN) has shown alterations post-concussion. The present study explored whether FC differs between concussion and orthopedic injury (OI) groups aged 10-18 and if associations exist between FC and HRQoL 4-weeks post-concussion. Resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) and HRQoL measurements were completed 4-weeks post-injury. One-way ANCOVA analyses were conducted between groups with network FC. Multivariate linear regressions assessed associations between connectivity and HRQoL. A total of 55/72 concussion and 27/30 OI participants were included. FC was increased within the CEN and SN, between the DMN-SN and CEN-SN, and decreased between the DMN-CEN in the concussion group. No significant associations were found between HRQoL and FC. Differential connectivity patterns exist 4-weeks following pediatric concussion, however, they are not associated with HRQoL.