Left superior temporal sulcus morphometry mediates the impact of anxiety and depressive symptoms on sleep quality in healthy adults

Anxiety and depressive symptoms may predispose individuals to sleep disturbance. Understanding how these emotional symptoms affect sleep quality, especially the underlying neural basis, could support the development of effective treatment. The aims of the present study were therefore to investigate...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social cognitive and affective neuroscience 2021-05, Vol.16 (5), p.492-501
Main Authors: Wang, Yanlin, Jiang, Ping, Tang, Shi, Lu, Lu, Bu, Xuan, Zhang, Lianqing, Gao, Yingxue, Li, Hailong, Hu, Xinyu, Wang, Song, Jia, Zhiyun, Roberts, Neil, Huang, Xiaoqi, Gong, Qiyong
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Anxiety - psychology
Brain
Depression - psychology
Female
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Mediation
Original Manuscript
Physiological aspects
Self Report
Sleep
Sleep disorders
Temporal Lobe - anatomy & histology
Temporal Lobe - diagnostic imaging
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Summary:Anxiety and depressive symptoms may predispose individuals to sleep disturbance. Understanding how these emotional symptoms affect sleep quality, especially the underlying neural basis, could support the development of effective treatment. The aims of the present study were therefore to investigate potential changes in brain morphometry associated with poor sleep quality and whether this structure played a mediating role between the emotional symptoms and sleep quality. One hundred and forty-one healthy adults (69 women, mean age = 26.06 years, SD = 6.36 years) were recruited. A structural magnetic resonance imaging investigation was performed, and self-reported measures of anxiety, depressive symptoms and sleep quality were obtained for each participant. Whole-brain regression analysis revealed that worse sleep quality was associated with thinner cortex in left superior temporal sulcus (STS). Furthermore, the thickness of left STS mediated the association between the emotional symptoms and sleep quality. A subsequent commonality analysis showed that physiological component of the depressive symptoms had the greatest influence on sleep quality. In conclusion, thinner cortex in left STS may represent a neural substrate for the association between anxiety and depressive symptoms and poor sleep quality and may thus serve as a potential target for neuromodulatory treatment of sleep problems.
ISSN:1749-5016
1749-5024
1749-5024
DOI:10.1093/scan/nsab012