Brain connectome gradient dysfunction in patients with ESRD and its association with clinical phenotype and cognitive deficits

Motivation: Whether the cortical gradient structure is disrupted in patients with ESRD and how this disruption provides valuable information for potential clinical interventions remain unknown. Goal(s): Explore brain connectome gradient dysfunction in patients with ESRD and its association with clinical phenotype and cognitive deficits. Approach: Resting-state fMRI was used to investigate ESRD-related hierarchical alterations. The Neurosynth platform and machine learning classification models were used to assess the meta-analytic cognitive functions and discriminative power. Results: The connectome gradient dysfunction mainly located in DMN and SMN, which were correlated with serum creatinine, depression status, and cognitive terms in patients with ESRD. Impact: This is the first study to reveal the brain connectome hierarchical dysfunction in ESRD patients and its association with clinical phenotype and cognitive deficits, which might be used as an potential neuroimaging marker for clinical symptoms in ESRD patients.