Negative Affectivity, Aging, and Depression: Results From the Neurobiology of Late-Life Depression (NBOLD) Study

• Published in: The American journal of geriatric psychiatry 2017-10, Vol.25 (10), p.1135-1149
• Main Authors: Steffens, David C., M.D, Wang, Lihong, Ph.D, Manning, Kevin J., Ph.D, Pearlson, Godfrey D., M.D
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aging; Depression; elderly; Internal Medicine; Mental depression; Neurobiology; neuroimaging; neuroticism; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Older people
• ISSN: 1064-7481; 1545-7214
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jagp.2017.03.017

Abstract Objectives Neuroticism is a common yet understudied condition in older adults. We hypothesized that presence of high Negativity Affectivity (NA), a key feature of neuroticism, would be associated with different prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity and connectivity patterns in depressed and never-depressed older adults. Design Baseline cross-sectional analysis of a cohort study Participants Fifty-two depressed and 36 never-depressed older adults. Measurements Assessments included Negative Affectivity scores from the Type D Scale-14 (DS-14) and Montgomery-Ǻsberg Depression Rating Scale scores. All subjects had a 3T brain functional magnetic resonance imaging resting scan, neuronal activity was determined by Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuations (ALFF) were obtained, and resting state functional connectivity (FC) analyses were performed. ANCOVA analyses were conducted on ALFF and FC to examine significant differences between groups. Results In the analyses on ALFF, there were clearly different patterns between depressed and comparison groups in the correlation of ALFF and NA. The correlation differences between the two groups were significant in the dorsomedial PFC, insula, amygdala and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). FC analyses revealed different between-group connectivity patterns. Significantly higher ventromedial PFC-amygdala FC with NA correlation was found in the depressed group than that in the never-depressed group. Conclusion This study confirms differential activity of the dorsal and ventral regions of the medial prefrontal cortex in individuals with high neuroticism. Our findings suggest increased rostral medial PFC activity may be a marker of resilience to depression in the elderly and decreased anterior ventromedial PFC/PCC/amygdala activity may be a result of successful emotion regulation in never-depressed higher NA individuals.