scholarly journals Longitudinal brain changes in MDD during emotional encoding: effects of presence and persistence of symptomatology

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (8) ◽  
pp. 1316-1326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Ai ◽  
Esther M. Opmeer ◽  
Jan-Bernard C. Marsman ◽  
Dick J. Veltman ◽  
Nic J. A. van der Wee ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundThe importance of the hippocampus and amygdala for disrupted emotional memory formation in depression is well-recognized, but it remains unclear whether functional abnormalities are state-dependent and whether they are affected by the persistence of depressive symptoms.MethodsThirty-nine patients with major depressive disorder and 28 healthy controls were included from the longitudinal functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) sub-study of the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety. Participants performed an emotional word-encoding and -recognition task during fMRI at baseline and 2-year follow-up measurement. At baseline, all patients were in a depressed state. We investigated state-dependency by relating changes in brain activation over time to changes in symptom severity. Furthermore, the effect of time spent with depressive symptoms in the 2-year interval was investigated.ResultsSymptom change was linearly associated with higher activation over time of the left anterior hippocampus extending to the amygdala during positive and negative word-encoding. Especially during positive word encoding, this effect was driven by symptomatic improvement. There was no effect of time spent with depression in the 2-year interval on change in brain activation. Results were independent of medication- and psychotherapy-use.ConclusionUsing a longitudinal within-subjects design, we showed that hippocampal–amygdalar activation during emotional memory formation is related to depressive symptom severity but not persistence (i.e. time spent with depression or ‘load’), suggesting functional activation patterns in depression are not subject to functional ‘scarring’ although this hypothesis awaits future replication.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pernille Hagland ◽  
Anders Lillevik Thorsen ◽  
Olga Therese Ousdal ◽  
Rolf Gjestad ◽  
Stella J. de Wit ◽  
...  

Background: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has been related to worse performance, abnormal brain activity, and functional connectivity during response inhibition. Whether these findings are indications of stable traits that contribute to the development of the disorder, or whether they are a result of the state severity of obsessions and anxiety, remains unclear since previous research mainly has employed cross-sectional designs. The present study aimed to assess longitudinal between- and within-person relationships between symptoms, task performance, right inferior frontal gyrus brain activation, and connectivity between the right amygdala and the right pre-supplementary motor area in 29 OCD patients before and after concentrated exposure and response prevention treatment.Method: Patients received exposure and response prevention delivered during 4 consecutive days, following the Bergen 4-day Treatment format. Patients performed a Stop Signal Task during 3T functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging the day before treatment, as well as 1 week and 3 months after treatment completion. Multilevel models were used to analyze disaggregated within- and between-person effects over time. Independent variables were scores on the symptom severity scales for OCD, anxiety, depression, and state distress during scanning. Dependent variables were reaction time for go trials, stop signal response time, task-related brain activation and connectivity.Results: A positive between-person effect was found for obsessive-compulsive, anxiety, and depressive symptom severity on go trial reaction time, indicating that patients with higher symptom scores on average respond slower during accurate go trials. We also found no significant between- or within-person relations between symptom severity and task-related activation or fronto-limbic connectivity.Conclusions: The between-person findings may point toward a general association between slower processing speed and symptom severity in OCD. Longitudinal studies should disaggregate between- and within-person effects to better understand variation over time.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura de Nooij ◽  
Mark James Adams ◽  
Emma Hawkins ◽  
Liana Romaniuk ◽  
Marcus Robert Munafo ◽  
...  

Background: Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is associated with negative affective cognitive biases. Differences on population level however remain unclear, including whether they normalise with remission. This study investigated associations between affective cognition and MDD within a large community-based sample.Methods: Participants from Generation Scotland (N=1,179) completed three affective tasks: (i) Bristol Emotion Recognition Task (BERT), (ii) Face Affective Go/No-go (FAGN), and (iii) Cambridge Gambling Task (CGT). After exclusions, individuals were classified as MDD-current (n=43), MDD-remitted (n=282), or non-MDD controls (n=784). Main analyses tested for hypothesised associations between affective bias summary measures and depressive symptoms, and for differences in affective biases between MDD-remitted versus non-MDD subjects. Exploratory analyses examined responses per task condition in more detail.Results: We found an association between greater depressive symptom severity and lower risk adjustment (CGT win, standardised coefficient =-0.02, p=0.03). This was attenuated when non-affective cognition (g) was accounted for, or when restricting analysis to those not currently taking antidepressant medication. Main analysis revealed no further clear evidence of affective biases, neither for MDD-remitted individuals. Exploratory analyses however suggested more subtle negative biases associated with depressive symptoms.Conclusions: Individuals with high depressive ratings were less likely to bet more despite increasingly favourable win conditions, which may indicate lower reward motivation, but could also be explained by lower non-affective cognitive functioning. Overall, results from this community-based sample showed limited evidence for overarching cognitive affective differences in MDD, though subtle negative biases related to current symptom severity suggested by exploratory analyses across the whole sample.


2021 ◽  
pp. bjsports-2020-103140
Author(s):  
Rodney K Dishman ◽  
Cillian P McDowell ◽  
Matthew Payton Herring

ObjectiveTo explore whether physical activity is inversely associated with the onset of depression, we quantified the cumulative association of customary physical activity with incident depression and with an increase in subclinical depressive symptoms over time as reported from prospective observational studies.DesignSystematic review and meta-analysis.Data sourcesMEDLINE, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES and CINAHL Complete databases, supplemented by Google Scholar.Eligibility criteriaProspective cohort studies in adults, published prior to January 2020, reporting associations between physical activity and depression.Study appraisal and synthesisMultilevel random-effects meta-analysis was performed adjusting for study and cohort or region. Mixed-model meta-regression of putative modifiers.ResultsSearches yielded 111 reports including over 3 million adults sampled from 11 nations in five continents. Odds of incident cases of depression or an increase in subclinical depressive symptoms were reduced after exposure to physical activity (OR, 95% CI) in crude (0.69, 0.63 to 0.75; I2=93.7) and adjusted (0.79, 0.75 to 0.82; I2=87.6) analyses. Results were materially the same for incident depression and subclinical symptoms. Odds were lower after moderate or vigorous physical activity that met public health guidelines than after light physical activity. These odds were also lower when exposure to physical activity increased over time during a study period compared with the odds when physical activity was captured as a single baseline measure of exposure.ConclusionCustomary and increasing levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity in observational studies are inversely associated with incident depression and the onset of subclinical depressive symptoms among adults regardless of global region, gender, age or follow-up period.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Joshua E. J. Buckman ◽  
Rob Saunders ◽  
Zachary D. Cohen ◽  
Phoebe Barnett ◽  
Katherine Clarke ◽  
...  

Abstract Background This study aimed to investigate general factors associated with prognosis regardless of the type of treatment received, for adults with depression in primary care. Methods We searched Medline, Embase, PsycINFO and Cochrane Central (inception to 12/01/2020) for RCTs that included the most commonly used comprehensive measure of depressive and anxiety disorder symptoms and diagnoses, in primary care depression RCTs (the Revised Clinical Interview Schedule: CIS-R). Two-stage random-effects meta-analyses were conducted. Results Twelve (n = 6024) of thirteen eligible studies (n = 6175) provided individual patient data. There was a 31% (95%CI: 25 to 37) difference in depressive symptoms at 3–4 months per standard deviation increase in baseline depressive symptoms. Four additional factors: the duration of anxiety; duration of depression; comorbid panic disorder; and a history of antidepressant treatment were also independently associated with poorer prognosis. There was evidence that the difference in prognosis when these factors were combined could be of clinical importance. Adding these variables improved the amount of variance explained in 3–4 month depressive symptoms from 16% using depressive symptom severity alone to 27%. Risk of bias (assessed with QUIPS) was low in all studies and quality (assessed with GRADE) was high. Sensitivity analyses did not alter our conclusions. Conclusions When adults seek treatment for depression clinicians should routinely assess for the duration of anxiety, duration of depression, comorbid panic disorder, and a history of antidepressant treatment alongside depressive symptom severity. This could provide clinicians and patients with useful and desired information to elucidate prognosis and aid the clinical management of depression.


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiyu Lu ◽  
Tianyin Liu ◽  
Gloria H. Y. Wong ◽  
Dara K. Y. Leung ◽  
Lesley C. Y. Sze ◽  
...  

Abstract Aims Late-life depression has substantial impacts on individuals, families and society. Knowledge gaps remain in estimating the economic impacts associated with late-life depression by symptom severity, which has implications for resource prioritisation and research design (such as in modelling). This study examined the incremental health and social care expenditure of depressive symptoms by severity. Methods We analysed data collected from 2707 older adults aged 60 years and over in Hong Kong. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and the Client Service Receipt Inventory were used, respectively, to measure depressive symptoms and service utilisation as a basis for calculating care expenditure. Two-part models were used to estimate the incremental expenditure associated with symptom severity over 1 year. Results The average PHQ-9 score was 6.3 (standard deviation, s.d. = 4.0). The percentages of respondents with mild, moderate and moderately severe symptoms and non-depressed were 51.8%, 13.5%, 3.7% and 31.0%, respectively. Overall, the moderately severe group generated the largest average incremental expenditure (US$5886; 95% CI 1126–10 647 or a 272% increase), followed by the mild group (US$3849; 95% CI 2520–5177 or a 176% increase) and the moderate group (US$1843; 95% CI 854–2831, or 85% increase). Non-psychiatric healthcare was the main cost component in a mild symptom group, after controlling for other chronic conditions and covariates. The average incremental association between PHQ-9 score and overall care expenditure peaked at PHQ-9 score of 4 (US$691; 95% CI 444–939), then gradually fell to negative between scores of 12 (US$ - 35; 95% CI - 530 to 460) and 19 (US$ -171; 95% CI - 417 to 76) and soared to positive and rebounded at the score of 23 (US$601; 95% CI -1652 to 2854). Conclusions The association between depressive symptoms and care expenditure is stronger among older adults with mild and moderately severe symptoms. Older adults with the same symptom severity have different care utilisation and expenditure patterns. Non-psychiatric healthcare is the major cost element. These findings inform ways to optimise policy efforts to improve the financial sustainability of health and long-term care systems, including the involvement of primary care physicians and other geriatric healthcare providers in preventing and treating depression among older adults and related budgeting and accounting issues across services.


Author(s):  
Jie Zhang ◽  
Xiangli Gu ◽  
Xiaoxia Zhang ◽  
Jihye Lee ◽  
Mei Chang ◽  
...  

High prevalence of depression and physical inactivity have been consistently reported among college students, especially in females. Guided by Lubans et al.’s conceptual framework, the primary purpose of this study was to examine the longitudinal relationships of PA motivation with leisure-time PA and depressive symptoms among college students over one academic year. Employing a longitudinal repeated measure design, 1004 college students in China were recruited in this study (28.3% males and 71.7% females; M age = 18.93 ± 0.64 years; 18–22 years old). Participants completed previously validated questionnaires assessing PA motivation (perceived competence beliefs and task values toward PA), leisure-time PA participation, and depressive symptoms in Fall 2016 (Time 1) and Fall 2017 (Time 2). Both male and female college students showed a significant increase of depressive symptoms from freshmen to sophomores (p < 0.05). The regression models indicated that perceived competence beliefs and task values toward PA were significant predictors of depressive symptoms at Time 2 (p < 0.05) after controlling for Time 1 measures in males and females, respectively. Physically active college students consistently demonstrated higher PA motivation, and they displayed fewer depressive symptoms compared to inactive peers over time (p < 0.05). The findings suggest sex-specified motivational intervention strategies and PA promotion programs/opportunities are needed to reduce depression symptoms among college students over time.


SLEEP ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. A259-A259
Author(s):  
Kathleen O’Hora ◽  
Mateo Lopez ◽  
Allison Morehouse ◽  
Andrea Cordero ◽  
Raquel Osorno ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction The COVID-19 Pandemic and mitigation efforts have led to drastic increases in acute insomnia symptoms, which left untreated may contribute to increased risk for other negative mental health outcomes, including depression. However, the impact of treating acute insomnia symptoms on future depression outcomes remains unknown. Moreover, whether sleep improvements as a result of an insomnia treatment mediate subsequent reduction of depression symptoms similarly remains unknown. Methods At this writing, 44 individuals experiencing insomnia symptoms (Insomnia Severity Index; ISI ≥ 10) that began during the COVID-19 pandemic have been randomized to receive a brief, telehealth Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBTI) waitlist control. Treatment was delivered in 4 sessions over a 5-week period. CBTI is the gold-standard behavioral intervention for chronic insomnia and has been applied successfully via telemedicine. Outcome measures were depressive symptoms as measured by the Patient Health Questionnare-9 (PHQ-9) minus the sleep item and insomnia symptom severity as measured by the ISI. Both outcome measures were collected at baseline (week 0), throughout treatment phase (weeks 2–6), and at the post-treatment (week 7). Linear mixed models determined the impact of treatment on depression and insomnia symptom severity. Mediation was tested using the MacArthur framework. Results There was a significant Group x Time interaction, with CBTI leading to a greater rate of improvement in ISI (b = -1.14, p &lt; 0.001) and PHQ-9 (b = -0.61, p = 0.002) than the control. Critically, the rate of improvement in insomnia symptoms to the last session of treatment, was associated with the subsequent improvement in depressive symptoms post-treatment (b = 2.06, p = 0.017). In contrast, depressive symptom improvement was not associated with insomnia symptom improvement (b = 4.28, p = 0.102). Conclusion This preliminary data suggests that brief CBTI can reduce pandemic onset insomnia and other depressive symptoms. The preliminary mediation results further suggest that sleep may be an important treatment target for reducing situational depressive symptoms and supports the need to examine the physiological mechanisms of sleep using high-density EEG in a larger sample. Support (if any):


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Preston C. Morgan ◽  
Michelle Washburn-Busk ◽  
M. Hunter Stanfield ◽  
Jared A. Durtschi

2011 ◽  
Vol 198 (4) ◽  
pp. 302-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian M. Anderson ◽  
Clare Shippen ◽  
Gabriella Juhasz ◽  
Diana Chase ◽  
Emma Thomas ◽  
...  

BackgroundNegative biases in emotional processing are well recognised in people who are currently depressed but are less well described in those with a history of depression, where such biases may contribute to vulnerability to relapse.AimsTo compare accuracy, discrimination and bias in face emotion recognition in those with current and remitted depression.MethodThe sample comprised a control group (n = 101), a currently depressed group (n = 30) and a remitted depression group (n = 99). Participants provided valid data after receiving a computerised face emotion recognition task following standardised assessment of diagnosis and mood symptoms.ResultsIn the control group women were more accurate in recognising emotions than men owing to greater discrimination. Among participants with depression, those in remission correctly identified more emotions than controls owing to increased response bias, whereas those currently depressed recognised fewer emotions owing to decreased discrimination. These effects were most marked for anger, fear and sadness but there was no significant emotion × group interaction, and a similar pattern tended to be seen for happiness although not for surprise or disgust. These differences were confined to participants who were antidepressant-free, with those taking antidepressants having similar results to the control group.ConclusionsAbnormalities in face emotion recognition differ between people with current depression and those in remission. Reduced discrimination in depressed participants may reflect withdrawal from the emotions of others, whereas the increased bias in those with a history of depression could contribute to vulnerability to relapse. The normal face emotion recognition seen in those taking medication may relate to the known effects of antidepressants on emotional processing and could contribute to their ability to protect against depressive relapse.


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