The FMRI Success Rate of Children and Adolescents: Typical Development, Epilepsy, Attention Deficit/hyperactivity Disorder, and Autism Spectrum Disorders

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in children is increasingly used in clinical application and in developmental research; however, little is known how pediatric patient and typically developing populations successfully complete studies. We examined pediatric success rates with epilepsy, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and typically developing children (TYP). We also examined the affect of age, and, for ADHD populations, medication status on success rates. We defined a successful fMRI individual run when the data were interpretable and included in group statistics. For unsuccessful runs, datasets with excessive motion or floor task performance were categorized when possible. All clinical groups scanned less successfully than controls; medication status did not affect ADHD success (epilepsy, 80%; ADHD (off methylphenidate), 77%; ADHD (on methylphenidate), 81%; ASD, 70%; TYP, 87%). Ten to 18-year-old had a significantly greater scan success rate than 4- to 6-year-old; adolescents (13- to 18-year-old) demonstrated greater scan success rates than 7- to 9-year-old. Success rate for completing an entire battery of experimental runs (n = 2-6), varied between 50-59% for patient populations and 69% for TYP (79% when excluding 4- to 6-year-old). Success rate for completing one run from a battery was greater than 90% for all groups, except for ASD (81%). These data suggest 20-30% more children should be recruited in these patient groups, but only 10-20% for TYP for research studies. Studies with 4- to 6-year-olds may require 20-40% additional participants; studies with 10- to 18-year-olds may require 10-15% additional participants.