Exploring associations between neuroimaging, neurodevelopment, and emotional reactivity in individuals with or without congenital heart disease
type: CreativeWork
description: Children with complex congenital heart disease (CHD) experience a range of stressful early life events and are at increased risk of adverse neurodevelopmental and mental health outcomes across life. This thesis, comprising four studies, examines neuroimaging, neurodevelopment, and emotional reactivity associated with complex CHD. Study 1 (Chapter 5), published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology in 2023, is a systematic, state-of-the-art review of evidence on associations between neuroimaging findings and neurodevelopmental and psychiatric outcomes among individuals with dextro-transposition of great arteries (d-TGA) or single-ventricle CHD. While findings were mixed across studies, brain volumes and microstructural and functional brain changes appear linked to neurocognitive outcomes, including infant motor, language, and cognitive development, and adolescent and adult attention and executive functioning. Four papers investigated psychiatric outcomes; none found associations with neuroimaging data. Study 2 (Chapter 7) was a cross-sectional functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study with children and adolescents with d-TGA (n=34) and a non-CHD comparison group (n=27). In typical development, children (but not adolescents) exhibit decreases in amygdala reactivity to caregiver cues. This phenomenon is thought to represent a ‘parental buffering' effect. In Study 2, children with d-TGA showed increased amygdala reactivity when viewing images of their caregiver. These preliminary results suggest early medical adversity may influence developing emotional neural circuitry. Understanding how early life stress may alter typical developmental and neurobiological processes is critical to informing early neuroprotective and infant mental health strategies. In Study 3 (Chapter 8), recently accepted for publication in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, a new set of 124 emotionally salient medical images, called MEDIC, was developed to support investigat…
abstract: Children with complex congenital heart disease (CHD) experience a range of stressful early life events and are at increased risk of adverse neurodevelopmental and mental health outcomes across life. This thesis, comprising four studies, examines neuroimaging, neurodevelopment, and emotional reactivity associated with complex CHD. Study 1 (Chapter 5), published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology in 2023, is a systematic, state-of-the-art review of evidence on associations between neuroimaging findings and neurodevelopmental and psychiatric outcomes among individuals with dextro-transposition of great arteries (d-TGA) or single-ventricle CHD. While findings were mixed across studies, brain volumes and microstructural and functional brain changes appear linked to neurocognitive outcomes, including infant motor, language, and cognitive development, and adolescent and adult attention and executive functioning. Four papers investigated psychiatric outcomes; none found associations with neuroimaging data. Study 2 (Chapter 7) was a cross-sectional functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study with children and adolescents with d-TGA (n=34) and a non-CHD comparison group (n=27). In typical development, children (but not adolescents) exhibit decreases in amygdala reactivity to caregiver cues. This phenomenon is thought to represent a ‘parental buffering' effect. In Study 2, children with d-TGA showed increased amygdala reactivity when viewing images of their caregiver. These preliminary results suggest early medical adversity may influence developing emotional neural circuitry. Understanding how early life stress may alter typical developmental and neurobiological processes is critical to informing early neuroprotective and infant mental health strategies. In Study 3 (Chapter 8), recently accepted for publication in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, a new set of 124 emotionally salient medical images, called MEDIC, was developed to support investigat…
author: Phillips, Katelyn ; https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2968-7929
language: en
keywords: congenital heart disease, early life stress, functional magnetic resonance imaging, amygdala reactivity, emotional reactivity, anzsrc-for: 320101 Cardiology (incl. cardiovascular diseases), anzsrc-for: 52 PSYCHOLOGY
license: https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
date published: 2024
date modified: 2026-07-24T05:33:18Z
provider: University of New South Wales
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: UNSW, Sydney

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/104303

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.26190/unsworks/30939