title: Gray matter abnormalities in patients with social anxiety disorder: A voxel-based morphometry study.
abstract: The main objective of this study was to investigate the gray matter volume (GMV) differences between the patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) and healthy controls, using VBM analysis. A total of 27 consecutive patients (15 women and 12 men) with SAD and 27 age and sex-matched healthy control subjects were included in this study. With magnetic resonance imaging, we examined GMV differences between SAD and healthy control groups. We found that GMV in the right middle and inferior temporal, left superior parietal, left precuneus and right fusiform areas were significantly greater in patients with SAD than in healthy controls. In addition, GMV in the right inferior and middle temporal regions were positively correlated with the social avoidance and total social anxiety scores of the participants in the SAD group. Lastly, greater GMV in the left superior parietal and precuneal regions were correlated with the higher disability in the social life of the patients with SAD. Our results suggest that the regions that showed significant GMV differences between the two groups play an important role in the pathophysiology of SAD and increased GMV in these regions might reflect a pathological process of neural abnormalities in this disorder.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul, Turkey. Electronic address: rtukel@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Raşit
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tükel
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Neuroradiology Division, Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul, Turkey. Electronic address: dr.aydink@superonline.com.
authors.forename: Kubilay
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aydın
authors.affiliation: McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, MA, USA. Electronic address: cagriyuksel@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Çağrı
authors.initials: Ç
authors.lastname: Yüksel
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul, Turkey. Electronic address: erhanert76@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Erhan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ertekin
authors.affiliation: Private practice. Electronic address: ahmet_koyu@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Ahmet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Koyuncu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Uskudar University, İstanbul, Turkey; Division of Cognitive Neuropsychiatry and Psychiatric Preventative Medicine, Ruhr University, Bochum, NRW, Germany. Electronic address: cumhur.tas@uskudar.edu.tr.
authors.forename: Cumhur
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Taş
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000473:pathology; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Gray matter volume; Magnetic resonance imaging; Social anxiety disorder; Voxel-based morphometry