title: Analysis of alcohol use disorders from the Nathan Kline Institute-Rockland Sample: Correlation of brain cortical thickness with neuroticism.
abstract: Although differences in both neuroanatomical measures and personality traits, in particular neuroticism, have been associated with alcohol use disorders (AUD), whether lifetime AUD diagnosis alters the relationship between neuroticism and neuroanatomical structures remains to be determined.
  
  
  
  Data from 65 patients with lifetime AUD diagnoses and 65 healthy comparisons (HC) group-matched on age, sex and race were extracted from the Nathan Kline Institute - Rockland Sample data set. Each subject completed personality trait measures and underwent MRI scanning. Cortical thickness measures at 68 Desikan-Killiany Atlas regions were obtained using FreeSurfer 5.3.0. Regression analyses were performed to identify brain regions at which the neuroticism-cortical thickness relationship was altered by lifetime AUD status.
  
  
  
  As expected, AUDs had higher neuroticism scores than HCs. Correlations between neuroticism and cortical thickness in the left insula and right fusiform differed significantly across groups. Higher neuroticism score in AUD and the interaction between the insular cortical thickness-neuroticism correlation and AUD status were confirmed in a replication study using the Human Connectome Project data set.
  
  
  
  Results confirmed the relationship between neuroticism and AUD and suggests that specific cortical regions, particularly the left insula, represent anatomic substrates underlying this association in AUD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, NY 10016, USA; Bureau of Epidemiology Services, Division of Epidemiology, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Queens, NY 11101, USA. Electronic address: yz2135@caa.columbia.edu.
authors.forename: Yihong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Lehman College, City University of New York, Bronx, NY 10468, USA.
authors.forename: Zhi-Liang
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, NY 10016, USA; Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY 10962, USA. Electronic address: Francisco.Castellanos@nyumc.org.
authors.forename: F Xavier
authors.initials: FX
authors.lastname: Castellanos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000523:psychology*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D063132:Connectome; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000075384:Neuroticism; D009929:Organ Size
keywords: Alcohol use disorders; Chronic pain disorder; Fusiform gyrus; Insula; Neuroticism; Personality