University of Zürich, Psychopathology and Clinical Intervention, Institute of Psychology, Binzmuehlestrasse 14 / 17, 8050 Zürich, Switzerland; University Research Priority Program "Dynamics of Healthy Aging", University of Zürich, Switzerland.
University of Zürich, Psychopathology and Clinical Intervention, Institute of Psychology, Binzmuehlestrasse 14 / 17, 8050 Zürich, Switzerland; University Research Priority Program "Dynamics of Healthy Aging", University of Zürich, Switzerland.
Neuroimage Clin. 2022;35:103052. doi: 10.1016/j.nicl.2022.103052. Epub 2022 May 17.
Given the present demographic shift towards an aging society, there is an increased need to investigate the brain's functional connectivity in the context of aging. Trauma exposure and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are factors known to impact healthy aging and have been reported to be associated with functional connectivity differences. In the present study, we examined and compared differences in within-default mode network (DMN), within-salience network (SN) and between-DMN-SN functional connectivity, between trauma-exposed individuals with and without PTSD symptoms as well as non-traumatized individuals in a non-clininical older adult sample.
Resting state functional MRI and behavioral data is taken from the Longitudinal Healthy Aging Brain Database Project (LHAB). For the present analysis, participants who completed the questionnaires on trauma exposure and PTSD symptoms (N = 110 individuals of which n = 50 individuals reported previous trauma exposure and n = 25 individuals reported PTSD symptoms; mean age = 70.55 years, SD = 4.82) were included.
The reporting of PTSD symptoms relative to no symptoms was associated with lower within-DMN connectivity, while on a trend level trauma-exposed individuals showed higher within-SN connectivity compared to non-trauma exposed individuals. Consistent with existing models of healthy aging, between-DMN-SN functional connectivity showed an increase across time in older age.
Present results suggest that alterations in within-DMN and within-SN functional connectivity also occur in non-treatment seeking older adult populations with trauma exposure and in association with PTSD symptoms. These changes manifest, alongside altered between-DMN-SN functional connectivity, in older age supposedly independent of aging-related functional desegregation.
鉴于当前人口结构向老龄化社会的转变，需要研究大脑在老龄化背景下的功能连接。创伤暴露和创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）症状是已知会影响健康老龄化的因素，并已报告与功能连接差异有关。在本研究中，我们检查并比较了创伤暴露个体中 PTSD 症状和无 PTSD 症状以及非创伤个体在非临床老年成年人样本中的默认模式网络（DMN）内、突显网络（SN）内和 DMN-SN 之间功能连接的差异。
静息态功能磁共振成像和行为数据来自纵向健康老龄化大脑数据库项目（LHAB）。对于本分析，参与者完成了创伤暴露和 PTSD 症状的问卷（N=110 人，其中 n=50 人报告了以前的创伤暴露，n=25 人报告了 PTSD 症状；平均年龄=70.55 岁，标准差=4.82）。
与无症状相比，报告 PTSD 症状与较低的 DMN 内连接有关，而创伤暴露个体的 SN 内连接水平较高。与健康老龄化的现有模型一致，DMN-SN 功能连接在老年时随时间增加。
目前的结果表明，创伤暴露和与 PTSD 症状相关的非治疗寻求老年人群中也存在 DMN 内和 SN 内功能连接的改变。这些变化与 DMN-SN 功能连接的改变一起，在与衰老相关的功能去分化之外，出现在老年。
