title: Neurostructural abnormalities in pediatric anxiety disorders.
abstract: Functional neuroimaging studies have consistently demonstrated abnormalities in fear and threat processing systems in youth with anxiety disorders; however, the structural neuroanatomy of these systems in children and adolescents remains largely unknown. Using voxel-based morphometry (VBM), gray matter volumes were compared between 38 medication-free patients with anxiety disorders (generalized anxiety disorder; social phobia; separation anxiety disorder, mean age: 14.4±3 years) and 27 comparison subjects (mean age: 14.8±4 years). Compared to healthy subjects, youth with anxiety disorders had larger gray matter volumes in the dorsal anterior cingulate and had decreased gray matter volumes in the inferior frontal gyrus (ventrolateral prefrontal cortex), postcentral gyrus, and cuneus/precuneus. These data suggest the presence of structural differences in regions previously implicated in the processing and regulation of fear in pediatric patients with anxiety disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, United States; Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Cincinnati, OH, United States. Electronic address: strawnjr@uc.edu.
authors.forename: Jeffrey R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Strawn
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, United States.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hamm
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, United States.
authors.forename: Daniel A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Fitzgerald
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
authors.forename: Kate D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Fitzgerald
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
authors.forename: Christopher S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Monk
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, United States; Mental Health Service Line, Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, Chicago, IL, United States.
authors.forename: K Luan
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Phan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000473:pathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000473:pathology*; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000473:pathology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000473:pathology
keywords: Adolescent; Amygdala; Anxiety; Children; Cingulate cortex; Ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC); Voxel-based morphometry (VBM)