Volumetric reduction in various cortical regions of elderly patients with early-onset and late-onset mania.
BACKGROUND
Few studies have examined alterations of the brain in elderly bipolar patients. As late-onset mania is associated with increased cerebrovascular morbidity and neurological damage compared with typical/early-onset mania, we investigated differences in the volume of various cortical regions between elderly patients with early-onset versus late-onset mania.


METHODS
We recruited 44 bipolar patients aged over 60 years, who underwent volumetric magnetic resonance imaging at 1.5 T. The analytic method is based on the hidden Markov random field model with an expectation-maximization algorithm. We determined the volume of each cortical region as a percentage of the total intracranial volume. The cutoff age for defining early versus late onset was 45 years.


RESULTS
The study participants consisted of 25 patients with early-onset mania and 19 patients with late-onset mania; their mean ages were 65.7 years and 62.8 years, respectively. The demographic variables of the two groups were comparable. The volumes of the left caudate nucleus (p = 0.022) and left middle frontal gyrus (p = 0.013) were significantly greater and that of the right posterior cingulate gyrus (p = 0.019) was significantly smaller in the late-onset group. More patients with late-onset mania had comorbid cerebrovascular disease (p = 0.072).


CONCLUSIONS
The right posterior cingulate gyrus is smaller and the left caudate nucleus and left middle frontal gyrus are larger in patients with late-onset mania compared with those with early-onset mania. Volumetric change in brain regions may vary in elderly bipolar patients with early and late-onset mania.
Huang
Shou-Hung
SH
Department of Psychiatry and Psychiatric Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Tsai
Shang-Ying
SY
Hsu
Jung-Lung
JL
Huang
Yi-Lin
YL
D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology; D002421:Caudate Nucleus / Q000473:pathology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009929:Organ Size