Differences in prefrontal, limbic, and white matter lesion volumes according to cognitive status in elderly patients with first-onset subsyndromal depression.
The purpose of this preliminary study was to test the hypothesis that subsyndromal depression is associated with the volume of medial prefrontal regional gray matter and that of white matter lesions (WMLs) in the brains of cognitively normal older people. We also explored the relationships between subsyndromal depression and medial prefrontal regional gray matter volume, limbic regional gray matter volume, and lobar WMLs in the brains of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). We performed a cross-sectional study comparing patients with subsyndromal depression and nondepressed controls with normal cognition (n = 59), MCI (n = 27), and AD (n = 27), adjusting for sex, age, years of education, and results of the Mini-Mental State Examination. Frontal WML volume was greater, and right medial orbitofrontal cortical volume was smaller in cognitively normal participants with subsyndromal depression than in those without subsyndromal depression. No volume differences were observed in medial prefrontal, limbic, or WML volumes according to the presence of subsyndromal depression in cognitively impaired patients. The absence of these changes in patients with MCI and AD suggests that brain changes associated with AD pathology may override the changes associated with subsyndromal depression.
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Seoul National University College of Medicine, SMG-SNU Boramae Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea ; Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San Francisco, California, United States of America.
Jun-Young
JY
Lee
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Seoul National University College of Medicine, SMG-SNU Boramae Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Soowon
S
Park
Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America.
Scott
S
Mackin
Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research, Ludwig Maximilian University, München, Germany.
Michael
M
Ewers
Department of Neurology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, United States of America.
Helena
H
Chui
School of Public Health and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America.
William
W
Jagust
Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San Francisco, California, United States of America.
Philip S
PS
Insel
Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San Francisco, California, United States of America ; Department of Radiology, Psychiatry, Neurology, and Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America.
Michael W
MW
Weiner
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D003071:Cognition; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008032:Limbic System / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male