White Matter Integrity Underlying Depressive Symptoms in Dementia Caregivers.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

We sought to determine whether the aspects of white matter connectivity implicated in major depression also relate to mild depressive symptoms in family dementia caregivers (dCGs).

Methods

Forty-one dCGs (average age=69 years, standard deviation=6.4) underwent a 7 Tesla 64-direction (12-minute) diffusion-weighted imaging sequence. We compared the fractional anisotropy (FA) of 11 white matter features between dCGs with (n=20) and without (n=21) depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire-9 scores ≥5).

Results

Caregivers reporting depression symptoms had lower FA in tracts connecting to the posterior cingulate cortex (Cohen's d = -0.9) and connecting dorsolateral prefrontal with rostral cingulate regions (Cohen's d = -1.2).

Conclusions

Posterior c

SUBMITTER: Smagula SF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7170753 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature