Correlations Of Brain Gray Matter Volume,Cognitive Function And Childhood Trauma In Patients With Depression

BackgroundDepressive disorder is a common affective disorder and the pathogenesis is currently unclear.Poorer cognitive performance is considered an important clinical symptom of depressive disorder and is associated with the onset,progression,and prognosis of depressive disorders.Childhood trauma serves as a potential risk factor that affects the structural basis of cognitive function in the brain and is strongly associated with depressive disorders.However,the relationship between childhood trauma and depressive disorders as well as cognitive dysfunction is unclear.ObjectiveThe aim was to investigate the relationship between alterations in brain gray matter volume（GMV）,cognitive dysfunction and childhood trauma in patients with depressive disorders.Methods107 patients with depressive disorders were included,along with 75 matched healthy controls.The childhood trauma status of the subjects was assessed using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and the subjects were divided into a trauma depression group,a non-trauma depression group,a trauma control group,and a nontrauma control group according to their scoring criteria.All subjects underwent magnetic resonance scans,and the Hamilton Depression Inventory 24-item（HAMD-24）,and cognitive tests were assessed.Two-factor analysis（with or without illness ×with or without trauma）was used to compare the cognitive test scores among the four groups.Voxel-based morphometric analysis（VBM）was used to analyze the differences in GMV in the brains of the four groups of subjects.Partial correlation was used to analyze the correlation between differential brain area GMV,cognitive function,and clinical symptoms.Results1.Depression main effects were significant on the trail making test-A,maze test,symbols test,Stroop-word,color,and interference test,all with P-values less than 0.05.Childhood trauma main effects were significant on the Stroop-color,interference test,with P-values less than 0.001.The interaction between depression and childhood trauma on cognitive tests was not significant（P>0.05）.2.Main effect significant brain regions for the effect of depressive disorder on GMV: rectus gyrus,left putamen,right superior temporal gyrus（r STG）,and thalamus（P<0.01,FWE corrected）.Post hoc tests showed a decrease in GMV in the rectus gyrus and an increase in GMV in the left putamen in trauma depressed patients compared to trauma healthy controls,and a decrease in GMV in the rectus gyrus,r STG,and thalamus and an increase in GMV in the putamen in non-trauma depressed patients compared to non-trauma healthy controls（P<0.01,FWE corrected）.Main effect significant brain area for the effect of childhood trauma on GMV: right cingulate gyrus（P<0.05,FWE corrected）.Post hoc tests revealed an increase in GMV in the right cingulate gyrus in the trauma depressed patients compared to the non-trauma depressed patients（P<0.05,FWE corrected）.Interaction significant brain area for the effect of depressive disorder and trauma on GMV: right cerebellum（P<0.05,corrected for FWE）.Post hoc tests showed an increase in right cerebellar GMV in the trauma depressed patients compared to the non-trauma depressed patients,and a decrease in right cerebellar GMV in non-trauma depressed patients compared to non-trauma healthy controls（P<0.05,FWE corrected）.3.After controlling for age,gender,and years of education,patients’ HAMD scores were positively correlated with the trail making test-A（r=0.20,P=0.041）and negatively correlated with Stroop-color and Stroop interference test scores（r=-0.37,P<0.001;r=-0.25,P=0.012）.Patients’ trail making test-A and Stroop-color scores were positively correlated with GMV in the rectus gyrus,r STG,thalamus,right cingulate gyrus,and cerebellum（r=0.29～0.35,P<0.05）,and negatively correlated with GMV in the left putamen（r=-0.21～-0.25,P<0.05）;Stroop interference test scores were positively correlated with GMV in the r STG,thalamus,right cingulate gyrus,and cerebellum（r=0.20～0.27,P<0.05）.The maze test was negatively correlated with GMV of the rectus gyrus（r=-0.21,P=0.033）.The HAMD scores were negatively correlated with GMV of the rectus gyrus,r STG,thalamus,right cingulate gyrus,and left putamen（r=-0.23～-0.48,P<0.05）and positively correlated with GMV of the cerebellum（r=0.47,P<0.001）.Conclusion1.Patients with depressive disorders have cognitive dysfunction,as evidenced by impaired information processing speed,reasoning and problem solving abilities,and executive inhibition.Childhood trauma exacerbates the impairment in information processing speed,problem solving ability and has a positive effect on executive inhibition function.2.Patients with depressive disorders had abnormal GMV in the rectus gyrus,right superior temporal gyrus,thalamus,left cisternal nucleus,right anterior cingulate gyrus,and right cerebellar.Among them,childhood trauma affected the GMV of the right anterior cingulate gyrus in patients;alterations in the GMV of the right cerebellum were associated with depression and childhood trauma.3.Cognitive dysfunction in patients with depressive disorders is associated with abnormalities in frontal,temporal,thalamic,cerebellar,and limbic system gray matter volumes and has not been found to be associated with childhood trauma.