title: Smaller gray matter volume of hippocampus/parahippocampus in elderly people with subthreshold depression: a cross-sectional study.
abstract: Hippocampal/parahippocampal structural changes accompany major depressive disorders in the elderly, but whether subthreshold depression (StD) at an advanced age is also accompanied by similar changes in hippocampal/parahippocampal volumes is still unknown. By using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis of the gray matter, we explored whether there are structural alterations of the hippocampus/parahippocampus and the correlations between its volume and participants' self-reported depressive symptoms.
  
  
  
  Participants were 19 community-dwelling older adults with StD assessed by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale (CES-D) scores. We collected magnetic resonance images of their brain compared to images of 17 healthy aged-matched adults. We used VBM to analyze differences in gray matter volume (GMV) of the hippocampus/parahippocampus between the two groups. Moreover, we examined the correlation between the GMV of the hippocampus/parahippocampus and participants' self-reported depressive symptoms.
  
  
  
  VBM revealed that elderly individuals with StD had substantially reduced volumes of the right parahippocampus compared to healthy controls. Furthermore, the volumes of the hippocampus/parahippocampus were significantly associated with participants' self-reported depressive symptoms in StD.
  
  
  
  Gray matter volume alterations in the hippocampus/parahippocampus are correlated with subthreshold depression suggesting that early structural changes in the hippocampus/parahippocampus can constitute a risk indicator of depression.
authors.affiliation: Center on Aging Psychology, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China.
authors.forename: Huixia
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Center on Aging Psychology, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Center on Aging Psychology, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China.|School of Nursing, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Zhenling
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Clinic for Hearing-, Speech- and Voice Disorders, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Sonja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.affiliation: Center on Aging Psychology, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China.
authors.forename: Xinyi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Center on Aging Psychology, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China. lijuan@psych.ac.cn.|Magnetic Resonance Imaging Research Center, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China. lijuan@psych.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001284:Atrophy / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000473:pathology*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D059906:Neuroimaging; D020534:Parahippocampal Gyrus / Q000473:pathology*; D062706:Prodromal Symptoms; D012307:Risk Factors
keywords: Gray matter volume; Hippocampus/parahippocampus; Older adults; Subthreshold depression