Saul B. Korey Department of Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, Bronx, New York.
Hippocampus. 2013 Dec;23(12):1137-42. doi: 10.1002/hipo.22185. Epub 2013 Oct 2.
Mixed findings have been reported on the relationship between hippocampal integrity and major depression in clinical populations. Few neuroimaging studies have investigated associations between hippocampal measures and depressive symptoms in nondemented older adults. Here, we address this issue by imaging 36 nondemented adults over age 70 from the Einstein Aging Study, a community-based sample from the Bronx, NY. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the 15-item Geriatric Depression scale (GDS). Clinically significant depression was defined using a cut-off score of 5 or greater. Hippocampal data included MRI-derived volume data normalized to midsagittal area and MRS-derived N-acetylaspartate to creatine ratios (NAA/Cr). Our result indicates that smaller total hippocampal volume was associated with higher GDS scores, but there were no significant association between hippocampal NAA/Cr and GDS score. These effects were consistent after controlling for age, education, and gender. Reduction in hippocampal volume could represent a risk factor or a consequence of depression in older adults. Further studies are needed to better understand the role of the hippocampus in the development and experience of depression in older adults.
混合的发现已经报道了海马完整性与临床人群中的重度抑郁症之间的关系。很少有神经影像学研究调查了海马测量值与非痴呆老年成年人抑郁症状之间的关联。在这里，我们通过对来自纽约布朗克斯的爱因斯坦老龄化研究中的 36 名 70 岁以上的非痴呆成年人进行成像来解决这个问题，这是一个基于社区的样本。使用 15 项老年抑郁量表（GDS）评估抑郁症状。使用 5 或更高的临界分数来定义临床显著抑郁。海马数据包括 MRI 衍生的体积数据归一化为中矢状面面积和 MRS 衍生的 N-乙酰天冬氨酸与肌酸比（NAA/Cr）。我们的结果表明，总海马体积越小，GDS 评分越高，但海马 NAA/Cr 与 GDS 评分之间没有显著关联。在控制年龄、教育程度和性别后，这些影响仍然存在。海马体积的减少可能代表老年人抑郁的危险因素或后果。需要进一步的研究来更好地理解海马在老年人抑郁的发展和经历中的作用。
