Age-Stratified Differences in Morphological Connectivity Patterns in ASD: An sMRI and Machine Learning Approach

  • Gokul Manoj
  • , Pranay Saini
  • , Ravi Ratnaik
  • , Sandeep Singh Sengar
  • , Nagarajan Ganapathy
  • , Karthick Pa
  • , Jac Fredo Agastinose Ronickom

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is one of the most common neurological disorders, and its early detection is extremely difficult. Researchers use different physiological and medical imaging signals to diagnose ASD based on the severity level and the age of the patient. In this study, morphological features (MF) and morphological connectivity features (MCF) are used to investigate the influence of age on the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In this work, we have utilized structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) data from ABIDE-I and ABIDE-II databases, divided into 6-11, 11-18, and 6-18 age groups, were pre processed and yielded 592 MF and 10,878 MCF per subject. As a result, the 6-11 age group outperformed the others in both feature types, especially in MCF, with a random forest (RF) classifier achieving 75.8% accuracy, 83.1% F1 score, 86% recall, and 80.4% precision, respectively. Based on this, it can be concluded that an age-specific morphological connectivity approach holds promise for effective diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication 2025 47th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC)
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages1-5
Number of pages5
Volume2025
ISBN (Electronic)9798331586188
ISBN (Print)9798331586195
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 3 Dec 2025
Event 2025 47th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC) - Copenhagen, Denmark
Duration: 14 Jul 202518 Jul 2025

Publication series

NameAnnual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Annual International Conference
ISSN (Print)2375-7477
ISSN (Electronic)2694-0604

Conference

Conference 2025 47th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC)
Country/TerritoryDenmark
CityCopenhagen
Period14/07/2518/07/25

Keywords

  • Adolescent
  • Age Factors
  • Autism Spectrum Disorder/diagnostic imaging
  • Brain/pathology
  • Child
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Machine Learning
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods
  • Male

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