Table 3.
MRS metabolite ratios in very preterm and term-born participants.
| Metabolite ratio | VPT (n = 54) |
TB (n = 62) |
Mean difference (95% CI) | pb | pc | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean (SD) | Mean (SD) | Absolute difference | % differencea | |||
| Frontal WM | ||||||
| NAA/Cr | 1.64 (0.13) | 1.65 (0.14) | −0.01 (−0.06, 0.05) | −0.33 (−3.39, 2.72) | 0.83 | 0.83 |
| Cho/Cr | 0.32 (0.04) | 0.29 (0.04) | 0.02 (0.01, 0.04) | 7.39 (2.68, 12.10) | 0.003 | 0.01 |
| Glx/Crd | 1.63 (0.19) | 1.73 (0.25) | −0.10 (−0.02, −0.18) | −5.91 (−10.50, −1.32) | 0.01 | 0.03 |
| mI/Cr | 0.55 (0.07) | 0.52 (0.08) | 0.03 (0.00,0.06) | 5.41 (0.18, 10.64) | 0.04 | 0.06 |
| Basal ganglia/thalami | (n = 49) | (n = 61) | ||||
| NAA/Cr | 1.35 (0.13) | 1.34 (0.12) | 0.02 (−0.03, 0.06) | 1.25 (−2.29, 4.79) | 0.49 | 0.92 |
| Cho/Cr | 0.23 (0.03) | 0.23 (0.03) | 0.00 (−0.01, 0.01) | −1.13 (−5.23, 2.97) | 0.59 | 0.92 |
| Glx/Crd | 1.42 (0.27) | 1.43 (0.25) | 0.00 (−0.10, 0.09) | −0.33 (−7.17, 6.51) | 0.92 | 0.92 |
| mI/Cr | 0.34 (0.09) | 0.34 (0.10) | 0.00 (−0.04, 0.03) | −0.52 (−11.00, 9.96) | 0.92 | 0.92 |
VPT very preterm participants, TB term-born participants, CI confidence interval, WM white matter.
aMetabolite ratio difference expressed as a percentage of the mean ratio in the controls for the particular metabolite ratio.
bUnadjusted p values.
cTo account for multiple comparisons, p values were adjusted according to the Benjamini−Hochberg procedure.
dTwo participants (one VPT, one TB) had to be excluded for the analysis of Glx/Cr ratios due to artifacts in the peaks.