Study Links Depression to Smaller CA23DG Region in 2,000-Plus Older Adults
Updated
Updated · ScienceAlert · Aug 16
Study Links Depression to Smaller CA23DG Region in 2,000-Plus Older Adults
3 articles · Updated · ScienceAlert · Aug 16
Summary
More than 2,000 cognitively unimpaired adults ages 50 to 90 showed a consistent pattern: people with depression had smaller volume in the hippocampus’s CA23DG memory region.
That link held after researchers adjusted for age, sex, body mass index and physical activity, and it barely changed when amyloid, tau and APOE ε4 Alzheimer’s risk factors were added.
CA1 and the subiculum were not smaller in the base analysis, but antidepressant users showed reduced volume in both CA23DG and CA1, a result the authors say could reflect medication effects or more severe illness.
Longer-lasting depression also tracked more strongly with reduced CA23DG volume than recently diagnosed, more severe symptoms, suggesting duration may matter as much as symptom intensity.
The study reports correlation, not causation, and researchers said the findings should not prompt patients to stop treatment while longer-term studies test how depression, medication and memory-related brain changes interact.