White matter connectivity in resilience in a general population sample of 12,516 individuals

Abstract

Neurobiological correlates of resilience to stress or trauma have not been investigated extensively. Studies on white matter connectivity in resilience, in particular, have been few and far between. This explorative study included 12,516 participants from the UK Biobank to investigate white matter connectivity in resilience in 13 selected regions of interest (ROIs). The data for this cross-sectional cohort study were retrieved from UK Biobank, a large-scale biomedical database and research resource. The study included 40-69-year-old women and men, as enrolled by UK Biobank, (N ​= ​12,516) divided into three groups: a trauma-exposed, healthy (resilient) group, a trauma-exposed, mentally ill (vulnerable) group and a nonexposed, healthy (control) group. The primary outcome measures consisted of mean fractional anisotropy values in the following ROIs: cingulate gyrus, cingulum hippocampus, superior fronto-occipital fasciculus, uncinate fasciculus, corpus callosum body, genu, splenium, and tapetum. Group differences in fractional anisotropy were assessed using a one-way analysis of variance. This study did not find correlates of resilience in the investigated ROIs. The results indicate that there is no association between resilience and white matter connectivity in the selected ROIs in this large population sample, which is in contrast with previous studies on morphometric and functional correlates of resilience. To corroborate this finding, the authors recommend collection of longitudinal data and utilization of voxelwise analysis, if possible, to improve sensitivity. The authors also suggest a whole-brain analysis in a similar study population to investigate other white matter tracts that might be implicated in resilience.