Structural Abnormalities in Brain Magnetic Resonance Images of Depressed Children

doi:10.1097/00004583-199603000-00011

Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

Volume 35, Issue 3, March 1996, Pages 307-311

https://doi.org/10.1097/00004583-199603000-00011 Get rights and content

ABSTRACT

Objective

Brain magnetic resonance images (MRIs) of 65 children and adolescents who were hospitalized with depressive disorders (DD) were compared with the brain MRIs of 18 hospitalized psychiatric controls (PC) without a depressive disorder.

Method

Volumetric analyses were used to measure frontal lobe volumes (FLV), lateral ventricular volumes (W), and total cerebral volumes (CV) for all subjects. To correct for differences in absolute cerebral volume associated with different body and head size, the ratios of FLV/CV and VV/CV were used to compare differences between the two groups. A multivariate analysis was used to control for the effects of several independent variables (age, sex, diagnosis).

Results

Significant differences were seen in the FLV/CV ratio and the W/CV ratio when the results were compared between the two groups (DD versus PC). The DD group had a significantiy smaller FLV/CV ratio (t= 2.148, df= 79, p= .035) and a significantly larger W/CV ratio (t= −2.093, df = 79, p = .040).

Conclusion

The findings are consistent with previous reports in depressed adults and may implicate the frontal lobes in the pathogenesis of early-onset depressive disorders. J. Am. Acad. Child Adotesc. Psychiatry, 1996, 35(3):307–31

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The effects of anxiety and depression on frontal lobe functioning were tested in two groups of 9–11-year-old boys. Participants were screened for handedness, health, intelligence and classified as anxious-depressed or non-anxious, non-depressed based on scores from the A-State scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children and the Child Depression Inventory. Previous research in our laboratory has indicated that boys high in anxious-depression may have neuropsychological deficits [e.g., Emerson, C. S., Harrison, D. W., & Everhart, D. E. (1999). Investigation of receptive affective prosodic ability in school-aged boys with and without depression. Neuropsychiatry, Neuropsychology and Behavioral Neurology, 12(2), 102–109; Emerson, C. S., Harrison, D. W., Everhart, D. E., & Williamson, J. B. (2001). Grip strength asymmetry in depressed boys. Neuropsychiatry, Neuropsychology, and Behavioral Neurology, 14(2), 130–134].
In order to assess the effects of anxious-depression on cerebral functioning performance on the Trail Making Test (Forms A and B) and on the Concept Formation subtest of the Woodcock Johnson was compared between groups. As predicted, anxious-depressed boys demonstrated deficits in sequencing, alternation, and problem-solving tasks as evidenced by longer completion times and significantly more errors on the tests. These results provide supportive evidence for deficits in frontal lobe functioning.

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: This work was supported by grants from the Charles H. Hood Foundation and the John W. Alden Trust.

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PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSStructural Abnormalities in Brain Magnetic Resonance Images of Depressed Children

ABSTRACT

Objective

Method

Results

Conclusion

Pediatr Neurol

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

Psychiatr Res Neuroimaging

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

J Affect Disord

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

Basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuits: parallel substrates for motor, oculomotor, “prefrontal” and “limbic” functions

Prog Brain Res

Parallel organization of functionally segregated circuits linking basal ganglia and cortex

Annu Rev Neurosci

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd edition-revised (DSM-III-R)

Circumscribed changes of cerebral cortex in neuropsychiatric disorders of later life

Proc Natl Acad Sci USA

Quantitative cerebral anatomy in depression: a controlled magnetic resonance imaging study

Arch Gen Psychiatry

Weighted kappa: nominal scale agreement with provision for scaled disagreement or partial credit

Psychol Bull

Structure of the Human Brain: A Photographic Atlas

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
Structural Abnormalities in Brain Magnetic Resonance Images of Depressed Children