Depressive symptoms associated with brain morphometry in Mild Cognitive Impairment stage due to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease

Abstract

Objectives: Although there are studies linking depressive symptoms with psychiatric diseases, and then, with brain morphometry, scarce is the literature examining the association between depressive symptoms and brain morphometry in the prodromal stage of neurodegenerative disorders. In the current analysis, we used a fair sample of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) stage due to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients, to examine the association between different depressive symptoms and a large variety of brain morphometric factors.
 Methods/ Design: Our sample consisted of 352 patients. The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) was used for the association with brain measurements. Principal Components Analysis (PCA) and regression models were used for the analyses. Age, sex, years of education, Addenbrooke’s cognitive examination revised (ACE-R), and estimated total intracranial volume were used as covariates.
 Results: Factor3 was significantly and positively correlated with GDS total, Dysthymia, Anxiety and Hopelessness. r_factor1, r_factor2 and r_factor5 were significantly and positively correlated with Anxiety, while r_factor5 was also correlated with GDS total. Concerning volumes, v_factor3 was found to be correlated with GDS total, Dysthymia, Anxiety and Hopelessness.
 Conclusions: The association between depressive symptoms and upcoming neurodegenerative disorders is reflected in human brain structural alterations, suggesting specific modifications in network-like patterns and neuronal connectivity. Characterizing differences in the morphometry of brain regions among MCI patients with depressive symptoms may aid the early diagnosis and treatment of these symptoms.