The association between recent stressful life events and brain structure: a UK Biobank longitudinal MRI study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Recent stressful life events (SLEs) are an established risk factor for a range of psychiatric disorders. Animal studies have shown evidence of gray matter (GM) reductions associated with stress, and previous work has found similar associations in humans. However longitudinal studies investigating the association between stress and changes in brain structure are limited.

Methods

The current study uses longitudinal data from the UK Biobank and comprises 4,543 participants with structural neuroimaging and recent SLE data (mean age = 61.5 years). We analyzed the association between recent SLEs and changes in brain structure, determined using the longitudinal FreeSurfer pipeline, focusing on total GM volume and five a priori brain regions: the hippocampus, amygdala, an

SUBMITTER: See CRZ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11822962 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature