PERSISTENT INTRINSIC FUNCTIONAL NETWORK CONNECTIVITY ALTERATIONS IN MIDDLE-AGED AND OLDER WOMEN WITH REMITTED DEPRESSION

Abstract

Introduction In younger populations, residual functional neural network alterations persist in remitted depression, yet there are less data for older adults who are at high risk of recurrence. This study tested for differences in intrinsic network functional connectivity in midlife and older women with remitted depression. Methods 69 women (24 with a history of depression and 45 with no psychiatric history) over age 45 entered the study and completed 3T MRI with a resting state acquisition. Participants with past depression met DSM-IV-TR criteria for an episode in the last 10 years, but not in the prior year. Whole-brain seed-to-voxel analyses examined the default mode network (DMN), executive control network (ECN), and salience network (SN), plus bilateral hippocampal seeds. All analyses adjusted for age and were conducted with a cluster FDR correction of p Results Women with a history of depression exhibited decreased connectivity between the SN, using a right insula seed, and ECN regions, specifically the left superior frontal gyrus. They also exhibited increased connectivity between the left hippocampus and the left postcentral gyrus. We did not observe any differences in connectivity for DMN or ECN seeds. Conclusions Remitted depression in women is associated with connectivity differences between the SN and ECN, and between the hippocampus and the postcentral gyrus, a region involved in interoception. Further work is needed to determine whether these findings are related to functional alterations and whether they are related to recurrence. This research was funded by K24 MH110598