Late-life depressive symptoms and white matter structural integrity within older Black adults

IntroductionOlder Black adults experience a high burden of depressive symptoms and cerebrovascular disease but the specific neurobiological substrates underlying the association between late-life depressive symptoms and brain integrity are understudied, particularly in within-group designs. MethodsUsing the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale and diffusion-tensor imaging, within-Black variation in the association between late-life depressive symptoms and white matter structural integrity was examined in 297 older Black participants without dementia that were enrolled across three epidemiological studies of aging and dementia. Linear regression models were used to test associations with DTI metrics (fractional anisotropy, trace of the diffusion tensor) as the outcomes and depressive symptoms as the predictor, while adjusting for age, sex, education, scanner, serotonin-reuptake inhibitor use, total volume of white-matter hyperintensities normalized by intracranial volume, and presence of white-matter hyperintensities at the voxel level. ResultsHigher level of self-reported late-life depressive symptoms was associated with greater diffusion-tensor trace (reduced white matter integrity) in connections between commissural pathways and contralateral prefrontal regions (superior and middle frontal/dorsolateral prefrontal cortex), association pathways connecting dorsolateral prefrontal cortex with insular, striatal and thalamic regions, and association pathways connecting the parietal, temporal and occipital lobes and the thalamus. DiscussionThis study demonstrated a discernable pattern of compromised white matter structural integrity underlying late-life depressive symptoms within older Black adults.

Automated summary

This study examined the association between late-life depressive symptoms and white matter structural integrity in 297 older Black participants without dementia. The results showed that higher levels of depressive symptoms were associated with reduced white matter integrity in specific brain regions.