Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T04:48:28.958Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Brain aging in major depressive disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

L. Han*
Affiliation:
Department Of Psychiatry, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Vrije Universiteit and GGZ inGeest, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, Netherlands
H. Schnack
Affiliation:
Department Of Psychiatry, UMCU Brain Center, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
R. Brouwer
Affiliation:
Department Of Psychiatry, UMCU Brain Center, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
D. Veltman
Affiliation:
Department Of Psychiatry, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Vrije Universiteit and GGZ inGeest, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, Netherlands
N. Van Der Wee
Affiliation:
Department Of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
M.-J. Van Tol
Affiliation:
Cognitive Neuroscience Center, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
M. Aghajani
Affiliation:
Department Of Psychiatry, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Vrije Universiteit and GGZ inGeest, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, Netherlands
B. Penninx
Affiliation:
Department Of Psychiatry, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Vrije Universiteit and GGZ inGeest, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, Netherlands
*
*Corresponding Author.

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Depression and anxiety are common and often comorbid mental health disorders that represent risk factors for aging-related conditions. Brain aging has shown to be more advanced in patients with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Here, we extend prior work by investigating multivariate brain aging in patients with MDD and/or anxiety disorders and examine which factors contribute to older appearing brains. Adults aged 18-57 years from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety underwent structural MRI. A pre-trained brain age prediction model based on >2,000 samples from the ENIGMA consortium was applied to obtain brain-predicted age differences (brain-PAD, predicted brain age minus chronological age) in 65 controls and 220 patients with current MDD and/or anxiety. Brain-PAD estimates were associated with clinical, somatic, lifestyle, and biological factors. After correcting for antidepressant use, brain-PAD was significantly higher in MDD (+2.78 years, Cohen’s d=0.25, 95% CI -0.10-0.60) and anxiety patients (+2.91 years, Cohen’s d=0.27, 95% CI -0.08-0.61), compared to controls. There were no significant associations with lifestyle or biological stress systems. A multivariable model indicated unique contributions of higher severity of somatic depression symptoms (b=4.21 years per unit increase on average sum score) and antidepressant use (-2.53 years) to brain-PAD. Advanced brain aging in patients with MDD and anxiety was most strongly associated with somatic depressive symptomatology. We also present clinically relevant evidence for a potential neuroprotective antidepressant effect on the brain-PAD metric that requires follow-up in future research.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Type
Abstract
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.