Publication date: Apr 15, 2025

Divergent age-related functional brain connectivity in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been observed using resting-state fMRI, although the specific findings are inconsistent across studies. Common statistical regression approaches that fit identical models across functional brain networks may contribute to these inconsistencies. Relationships among functional networks have been reported to follow unique nonlinear developmental trajectories, suggesting the need for flexible modeling. Here we apply generalized additive models (GAMs) to flexibly adapt to distinct network trajectories and simultaneously describe divergent age-related changes from childhood into mid-adulthood in ASD. 1107 males, aged 5-40, from the ABIDE I & II cross-sectional datasets were analyzed. Functional connectivity was extracted using a network-based template. Connectivity values were harmonized using COMBAT-GAM. Connectivity-age relationships were assessed with thin-plate spline GAMs. Post-hoc analyses defined the age-ranges of divergent aging in ASD. Typically developing (TD) and ASD groups shared 15 brain connections that significantly changed with age (FDR-corrected p 

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Semantics