Abstract
The prevalence of major depression continues to increase, particularly in young women. Depression is associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease and cognitive impairment later in life. Peripheral vascular dysfunction, including stiffening of the large elastic arteries, is evident in adults with depression and may mediate the relation between depressive and neurocognitive symptoms by exposing the cerebral vasculature to damaging pulsatile pressure waves. We hypothesized that increased depression symptom severity would be associated with more pulsatile blood flow through the middle cerebral artery (MCA) as assessed by the pulsatility index (PI). Transcranial Doppler ultrasound was used to measure MCA cerebral blood velocity (CBV) in 40 young adults (25 F/15 M, mean age: 24±5 y) having a wide range of depressive symptom severity. MCA PI was calculated as the difference between maximum CBV and minimum CBV normalized to the mean CBV. Self‐reported depressive symptom severity was derived using the Patient Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS; T‐score). The association between PI and depressive symptom severity was quantified using linear regression; sex differences were assessed using multiple linear regression. PI (mean±SE: 0.8±0.02; range: 0.6–1.0) was negatively correlated with depressive symptom severity (mean±SE: 51.3±1.6; range: 37.1–71.9) (r2=0.12, P=0.03). There was no difference in the relation between depressive symptom severity and PI between men and women (R2=0.09, P=0.39). Lower pulsatility of the cerebral arteries in adults with more severe depressive symptoms may indicate a possible compensatory role to protect the brain from damaging pressure waves. Future studies should examine the mechanisms by which depression contributes to decreased pulsatility of cerebral blood vessels and stiffening of large elastic arteries in young individuals, including the possible role of augmented cerebral autoregulation, and whether this mechanism changes with advancing age.Support or Funding InformationNIH Grant P20GM113125
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