Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University, Bronx, NY, USA.
Department of Radiology, Gruss Magnetic Resonance Research Center, Montefiore Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA.
Mult Scler. 2023 Sep;29(10):1266-1274. doi: 10.1177/13524585231188096. Epub 2023 Aug 1.
Apathy is common in multiple sclerosis (MS) and neurological disease, but its presence and underlying brain mechanisms in older adults with MS (OAMS) have not been evaluated.
Examine apathy and its association with caudate nuclei volume in OAMS and controls. We hypothesized that compared to controls, OAMS would demonstrate: a) greater apathy; b) stronger associations between apathy and caudate nuclei volumes.
OAMS ( = 67, mean age = 64.55 ± 3.89) and controls ( = 74, mean age = 69.04 ± 6.32) underwent brain MRI, cognitive assessment, psychological, and motoric testing. Apathy was assessed through the apathy subscale of the 30-item Geriatric Depression Scale.
OAMS reported greater apathy compared to controls ( = 0.281, = 0.004). Adjusted moderation analyses revealed a significantly stronger association between caudate volume and apathy (left: = -1.156, = 0.039, right: = -1.163, = 0.040) among OAMS compared to controls. Conditional effects revealed that in adjusted models, lower volume of both the left ( = -0.882, = 0.037) and right ( = -0.891, = 0.038) caudate nuclei was significantly associated with greater apathy only among OAMS.
Caudate nuclei, which are susceptible to adverse MS effects and implicated in mediating cognitive and motor function, may influence the presence and severity of apathy in OAMS.
冷漠在多发性硬化症（MS）和神经疾病中很常见，但在患有 MS 的老年患者（OAMS）中其存在和潜在的大脑机制尚未得到评估。
研究冷漠及其与 OAMS 和对照组尾状核体积的关系。我们假设与对照组相比，OAMS 将表现出：a）更严重的冷漠；b）冷漠与尾状核体积之间的关联更强。
OAMS（=67，平均年龄=64.55±3.89）和对照组（=74，平均年龄=69.04±6.32）接受了脑 MRI、认知评估、心理和运动测试。冷漠通过 30 项老年抑郁量表的冷漠子量表进行评估。
与对照组相比，OAMS 报告的冷漠程度更高（=0.281，=0.004）。调整后的调节分析显示，尾状核体积与冷漠之间的关联在 OAMS 中明显强于对照组（左侧：=−1.156，=0.039，右侧：=−1.163，=0.040）。条件效应表明，在调整后的模型中，左侧（=−0.882，=0.037）和右侧（=−0.891，=0.038）尾状核体积较低仅与 OAMS 中更大的冷漠显著相关。
尾状核易受 MS 不良影响，并与介导认知和运动功能有关，可能会影响 OAMS 中冷漠的存在和严重程度。
