title: Hippocampal volume in geriatric depression.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is a growing literature on the importance of hippocampal volume in geriatric depression.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined hippocampal volume in a group of elderly depressed patients and a group of elderly control subjects (N = 66 geriatric depressed patients and 18 elderly nondepressed control subjects) recruited through Duke's Mental Health Clinical Research Center for the Study of Depression in the Elderly. The subjects received a standardized evaluation, including a magnetic resonance imaging scan of the brain. Patients had unipolar major depression and were free of comorbid major psychiatric illness and neurologic illness. Differences were assessed using t tests and linear regression modeling.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Accounting for the effects of age, gender, and total brain volume, depressed patients tended to have smaller right hippocampal volume (p =.014) and left hippocampal volume (p =.073). Among depressed patients, age of onset was negatively but not significantly related to right hippocampal volume (p =.052) and to left hippocampal volume (p =.062). We noted that among subjects with either right or left hippocampal volume of 3 mL or less, the vast majority were patients rather than control subjects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results support a role for hippocampal dysfunction in depression, particularly in late-age onset depression. Longitudinal studies examining both depressive and cognitive outcomes are needed to clarify the relationships between the hippocampus, depression, and dementia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA.
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Steffens
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Byrum
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: McQuoid
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Greenberg
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Payne
authors.forename: T F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Blitchington
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: MacFall
authors.forename: K R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Krishnan
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales