ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neurosci.
Sec. Neurodevelopment
Hypothalamus volumes and mental health in children and adolescents
Madeson Todd 1,2,3
Bryce Geeraert Geeraert 2,4,5
Kirk Graff 4,5
Catherine Alexandra Lebel 6,4
Kathryn Manning 2,4,5
1. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
2. Department of Radiology, University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine, Calgary, Canada
3. University of Alberta Department of Medicine, Edmonton, Canada
4. Owerko Centre, University of Calgary Calgary Centre for Clinical Research, Calgary, Canada
5. Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, Calgary, Canada
6. Departmnet of Radiology, University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine, Calgary, Canada
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Abstract
(Introduction) The hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis plays an important role in regulating behaviour, neuroplastic responses to the environment during childhood and adolescent development, and highly implicated in stress-related mental disorders. However, due to the small size of hypothalamic structures and the limited availability of automated segmentation tools, there are relatively few neuroimaging studies examining hypothalamic involvement in mental health in human populations. Using a semi-automated segmentation approach, we conducted an exploratory study examining associations between hypothalamic volume and mental health-related behaviours in typically developing youth. 2 (Methods) T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and behavioural measures (Behavioural Assessment System for Children-2 Parent Report Scale (BASC-2 PRS)) were collected from 71 youth (aged 6-16 years). T1-weighted MRI data were quality checked and processed, and hypothalamic volumes semi-automatically delineated. Left, right and total hypothalamus volumes were tested across age using linear mixed effects models, as well as tested separately for associations with clinical T scores using a general linear model. 3 (Results) Left (T = -2.0; P =0.04) and total (T = -2.6, P = 0.01) hypothalamic volume decreased with age. A trend-level association was observed between left hypothalamic volume and adaptability scores (T = 1.8; p = 0.08), which did not reach conventional statistical significance. No significant associations were observed for internalizing or externalizing scores. 4 (Conclusions) Decreased ability to adapt to one's environment may be a predictor of mental illness. In this exploratory study, we observed significantly decreasing hypothalamus volume across this age range. There was a trend-level association between hypothalamic volume and adaptability, suggesting that structural variation in this region may be relevant to stress-related functioning in youth. However, this finding should be interpreted cautiously and requires replication in larger, longitudinal samples.
Summary
Keywords
adolescents, Brain, Children, Hypothalamus, Mental Health, MRI, Stress-related mental disorders
Received
29 November 2025
Accepted
18 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Todd, Geeraert, Graff, Lebel and Manning. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Madeson Todd; Catherine Alexandra Lebel; Kathryn Manning
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