Multicenter Aggression subTyping Research in Conduct Syndromes
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Multicenter Aggression subTyping Research in Conduct Syndromes (MATRICS)
IRAS ID
187003
Contact name
Michael Craig
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 4 months, 4 days
Research summary
Introduction: Children and adolescents with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) or conduct disorder (CD) show a repetitive and persistent pattern of aggressive behaviour. One can distinguish between different forms of aggression, such as uncontrolled, emotional, “impulsive aggression” and planned, goal-directed “instrumental aggression”. Another distinction is based on the presence of callous-unemotional (CU) traits, defined as a lack of prosocial emotions. These subtypes may be mediated by unique underlying mechanisms. More knowledge is needed about the behavioural, cognitive, neural and (neuro) biological as well as genetic bases of aggression in childhood- and adolescent-onset CD and/or ODD.\nObjective: The main objectives of this study are to (I) investigate characteristics of children and adolescents with CD and/or ODD in comparison with typically developing (TD) controls and (II) examine subtypes of aggression on the behavioural, cognitive, neural, (neuro)biological and genetic level.\nStudy design: This is a multicentre cross-sectional study in which nine European research sites are involved. In the UK, data will be collected at King’s College London and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. Children/adolescents will fill in a series of questionnaires as well as visit the centre for a task session (full-day programme) with a parent/guardian. Indeed, this task session consists of a diagnostic interview, an MRI session (structural MRI, resting state scan, Diffusion Tensor Imaging and functional MRI with three tasks), an MRS session, a behavioural-cognitive session (including an assessment of IQ), ECG measurement, venepuncture (for blood sampling), and collection of a hair sample and saliva samples. The parent/guardian is interviewed as well and will be asked to fill in questionnaires about the child. Separately to this (and remotely via a secure online system) a teacher will be asked to complete a questionnaire about the child. \nStudy population: At King’s College London, we will recruit 50 CD and/or ODD cases (25 children and 25 adolescents) and 25 TD controls.\nMain study parameters/endpoints: Scores on questionnaires about CU traits, aggression and conduct problems are the independent variables in this study. The main outcome measures are (1) performance on tasks of emotion recognition, impulsivity and memory, (2) volume size of prefrontal and limbic brain regions, white matter integrity, functional network connectivity, and brain activation during a face matching task, passive avoidance task and stop signal task, (3) anterior cingulate and striatal glutamate concentration, and (4) aggression-related genotypes as well as hormone levels.\nSecondary study parameters/endpoints: Additional measures include hair cells to be bio-banked for later reprogramming into human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs).\n\n
REC name
London - Camberwell St Giles Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/LO/1934
Date of REC Opinion
23 Dec 2015
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion