Neuroscience Research Australia, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Hum Brain Mapp. 2022 Dec 1;43(17):5180-5193. doi: 10.1002/hbm.25993. Epub 2022 Jun 29.
Wellbeing, an important component of mental health, is influenced by genetic and environmental factors. Previous association studies between brain structure and wellbeing have typically focused on volumetric measures and employed small cohorts. Using the UK Biobank Resource, we explored the relationships between wellbeing and brain morphometrics (volume, thickness and surface area) at both phenotypic and genetic levels. The sample comprised 38,982 participants with neuroimaging and wellbeing phenotype data, of which 19,234 had genotypes from which wellbeing polygenic scores (PGS) were calculated. We examined the association of wellbeing phenotype and PGS with all brain regions (including cortical, subcortical, brainstem and cerebellar regions) using multiple linear models, including (1) basic neuroimaging covariates and (2) additional demographic factors that may synergistically impact wellbeing and its neural correlates. Genetic correlations between genomic variants influencing wellbeing and brain structure were also investigated. Small but significant associations between wellbeing and volumes of several cerebellar structures (β = 0.015-0.029, P = 0.007-3.8 × 10 ), brainstem, nucleus accumbens and caudate were found. Cortical associations with wellbeing included volume of right lateral occipital, thickness of bilateral lateral occipital and cuneus, and surface area of left superior parietal, supramarginal and pre-/post-central regions. Wellbeing-PGS was associated with cerebellar volumes and supramarginal surface area. Small mediation effects of wellbeing phenotype and PGS on right VIIIb cerebellum were evident. No genetic correlation was found between wellbeing and brain morphometric measures. We provide a comprehensive overview of wellbeing-related brain morphometric variation. Notably, small effect sizes reflect the multifaceted nature of this concept.
幸福感是心理健康的一个重要组成部分，受到遗传和环境因素的影响。先前的大脑结构与幸福感之间的关联研究通常集中在体积测量上，且采用的是小队列。我们利用英国生物库资源，在表型和遗传水平上探讨了幸福感与大脑形态计量学（体积、厚度和表面积）之间的关系。该样本包括 38982 名具有神经影像学和幸福感表型数据的参与者，其中 19234 名参与者具有基因型，从中计算了幸福感多基因评分（PGS）。我们使用多元线性模型，包括（1）基本神经影像学协变量和（2）可能协同影响幸福感及其神经相关性的额外人口统计学因素，检查了幸福感表型和 PGS 与所有脑区（包括皮质、皮质下、脑干和小脑区域）的关联。还研究了影响幸福感和大脑结构的基因组变异之间的遗传相关性。幸福感与大脑结构之间存在微小但显著的关联，包括几个小脑结构（β=0.015-0.029，P=0.007-3.8×10）、脑干、伏隔核和尾状核的体积。与幸福感相关的皮质区域包括右侧外侧枕叶的体积、双侧外侧枕叶和楔前叶的厚度，以及左侧顶上回、缘上回和额-顶-后回的表面积。幸福感 PGS 与小脑体积和缘上回表面积相关。幸福感表型和 PGS 对右侧 VIIIb 小脑的中介效应较小。幸福感与大脑形态计量学指标之间没有发现遗传相关性。我们提供了幸福感相关大脑形态计量学变化的全面概述。值得注意的是，较小的效应大小反映了这个概念的多面性。
