Multilevel Resting‐State Dysfunctional Connectivity in People With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been linked to dysfunctional communication among brain regions and functional networks, as reflected by abnormal resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC). However, the consistent findings thus far have been elusive. To examine whether individuals with ASD show rsFC differently than healthy individuals at multiple seed levels, we performed a systematic analysis and meta-analysis at all prior seeds, functional network seeds, and single seed levels. This study was registered in the PROSPERO (registration number CRD42024559418). Publications were identified in PubMed, Embase, and PsycINFO from database inception until December 20, 2023. Publications were included that provided seed-based whole-brain rsFC contrasts between a sample with ASD and controls at rest. Seed and peak effect coordinates and intergroup effects were extracted for analysis. Random-effects meta-analysis was performed using the Seed-based d Mapping software. This study included 26 studies from 709 people with ASD and 705 controls. The frontal regions, right medial cingulate gyrus (MCG) (g = -0.51; 95% CI, -0.69 to -0.33) of the ventral attention network (VAN), and medial left superior frontal gyrus (g = -0.42; 95% CI, -0.60 to -0.24) of the DMN were the most robust peak clusters at all prior seeds, functional network seeds, and medial prefrontal cortex seed level respectively. The findings not only support DMN dysfunction in people with ASD but also provide the first evidence of meta-analysis to suggest VAN dysfunction in individuals with ASD.