Progressive brain structural alterations assessed via causal analysis in patients with generalized anxiety disorder.

ABSTRACT: Accumulating neuroimaging studies implicate widespread brain structural alterations in patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), but little is known regarding the temporal information of these changes and their causal relationships. In this study, a morphometric analysis was performed on T1-weighted structural images, and the progressive changes in the gray matter volume (GMV) in GAD were simulated by dividing the patients into different groups from low illness duration to high illness duration. The duration was defined as the interval between the onset of GAD and the time for magnetic resonance imaging collection. Then, a causal structural covariance network analysis was conducted to describe the causal relationships of the brain structural alterations in GAD. With increased illne

SUBMITTER: Chen Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7419314 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature