Functional Connectome Hierarchy Distortions in Female Nurses With Occupational Burnout and Its Gene Expression Signatures

Background Burnout has become a serious public health issue worldwide, particularly during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Functional connectome impairments associated with occupational burnout were widely distributed, involving both low‐level sensorimotor cortices and high‐level association cortices. Purpose To investigate whether there are hierarchical perturbations in the functional connectomes and if these perturbations are potentially influenced by genetic factors in nurses who feel “burned out.” Study Type Prospective, case control. Population Thirty‐three female nurses with occupational burnout (aged 27–40, 32.42 ± 3.37) and 32 matched nurses who were not feeling burned out (aged 27–42, 32.50 ± 4.21). Field Strength/Sequence 3.0 T, gradient‐echo echo‐planar imaging sequence (GE‐EPI). Assessment Gradient‐based techniques were used to depict the perturbations in the multi‐dimensional hierarchical structure of the macroscale connectome. Gene expression data were acquired from the Allen Human Brain Atlas. Statistical Tests Cortex‐wide multivariate analyses were used for between‐group differences in gradients as well as association analyses between the hierarchy distortions and the MBI score (FDR corrected). Partial least squares, spin test and bootstrapping were utilized together to select the gene sets (FDR corrected). Gene enrichment analyses (GO, KEGG and cell‐type) were further performed. Significance level: P