Journal
JOURNAL OF AFFECTIVE DISORDERS
Volume 174, Issue -, Pages 627-635Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2014.10.060
Keywords
Cortical thickness; Bipolar; Cognitive functioning; MRI
Categories
Funding
- German Ministry for Education and Research (FAME)
- German Ministry for Education and Research (Brain Imaging Center Frankfurt/Main) [DLR 01G00203]
- Prize Adolf-Messer-Preis for Young Researchers from the Freunde der Universitat, Goethe-University, Germany
- Medical Research Council [MR/L010305/1] Funding Source: researchfish
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Objectives: Neuroimaging studies in patients with bipolar disorder (BD) have indicated a number of structural brain changes, including reduced cortical thickness. However, the effects of the course of illness, clinical and cognitive variables on cortical thickness in BD patients have not yet been evaluated. Methods: A total of 67 individuals (32 patients with euthymic BD and 35 healthy and age-matched controls) underwent 3D-anatomical magnetic resonance imaging (MRl). Whole-brain cortical thickness and group differences were assessed using the Freesurfer software. Course of disease variables, clinical and cognitive parameters were correlated with cortical thickness measures. Results: We found reduced cortical thickness in BD patients compared with controls in the frontal and temporal lobes and in several limbic areas. We also report significant associations between cortical thickness and age of disease-onset, speed of cognitive processing, executive function and depression severity in BD patients. Conclusions: Cortical thickness reduction across frontal and limbic areas is a structural correlate of affective symptom severity and cognitive impairments in BD as well of age of disease-onset. We may assume that frontal lobe structural abnormalities are present in bipolar disorder, and might lead to dysfunctional cognitive functioning. The causality and functional relevance beyond mere correlation, however, is yet to be established. Our findings encourage further longitudinal studies in BD patients and in healthy at-risk subjects in order to discern the temporal order and development of morphological changes and clinical symptoms. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available