@article{dad0c31845354f569b068f876c6391aa,
title = "Girls' brain structural connectivity in late adolescence relates to history of depression symptoms",
abstract = "Background: Girls{\textquoteright} depressive symptoms typically increase in adolescence, with individual differences in course and severity being key risk factors for impaired emotional functioning in young adulthood. Given the continued brain white matter (WM) maturation that occurs in adolescence, the present study tested whether structural connectivity patterns in late adolescence are associated with variation in the course of depression symptom severity throughout adolescence. Method: Participants were girls (N = 115) enrolled in a multiyear prospective cohort study of risk for depression. Initial depression severity (intercept) at age 10 and change in severity (linear slope) across ages 10–19 were examined in relation to WM tractography collected at age 19. Network-based statistic analyses were used to identify clusters showing variation in structural connectivity in association with depressive symptom intercept, slope, and their interaction. Results: Higher initial depressive severity and steeper positive slope (separately) were associated with greater structural connectivity between temporal, subcortical socioaffective, and occipital regions. Intercept showed more connectivity associations than slope. The interaction effect indicated that higher initial symptom severity and a steeper negative slope (i.e., alleviating symptoms) were related to greater connectivity between cognitive control regions. Moderately severe symptoms that worsened over time were followed by greater connectivity between self-referential and cognitive regions (e.g., posterior cingulate and frontal gyrus). Conclusions: Higher depressive symptom severity in early adolescence and increasing symptom severity over time may forecast structural connectivity differences in late adolescence, particularly in pathways involving cognitive and emotion-processing regions. Understanding how clinical course relates to neurobiological correlates may inform new treatment approaches to adolescent depression.",
keywords = "Adolescence, brain imaging, connectomics, depression, development",
author = "Rajpreet Chahal and Weissman, {David G.} and Scott Marek and Rhoads, {Shawn A.} and Hipwell, {Alison E.} and Forbes, {Erika E.} and Kate Keenan and Guyer, {Amanda E.}",
note = "Funding Information: This research was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health grants R01‐MH093605 (K.K., A.E.G., E.E.F.), R01‐MH066167 (K.K.), R01‐MH056630, and T32 MH100019 (S.M.), and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences grants UL1 TR001860 and linked award TL1 TR001861 (R.C.). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH. The authors have declared that they have no competing or potential conflicts of interest. Key points Funding Information: This research was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health grants R01-MH093605 (K.K., A.E.G., E.E.F.), R01-MH066167 (K.K.), R01-MH056630, and T32 MH100019 (S.M.), and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences grants UL1 TR001860 and linked award TL1 TR001861 (R.C.). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH. The authors have declared that they have no competing or potential conflicts of interest.Key points In this study, girls? brain structural connectivity in late adolescence was examined in relation to the course of depressive symptoms across ten years of adolescence. Higher initial depressive severity (age 10) was associated with greater connectivity among socioaffective processing regions; increasing depressive severity throughout adolescence (age 10?19) was associated with greater connectivity between fusiform and occipital gyri. High symptom severity that alleviated over time was related to greater connectivity among cognitive control regions, while moderate symptoms that worsened over time were associated with greater connectivity between cognitive and self-referential processing regions. Depression history-associated structural connectivity patterns may relate to altered affective and cognitive processing in late adolescence. The present findings contribute to knowledge of the neurobiological correlates of clinically relevant patterns of depression progression. In this study, girls? brain structural connectivity in late adolescence was examined in relation to the course of depressive symptoms across ten years of adolescence. Higher initial depressive severity (age 10) was associated with greater connectivity among socioaffective processing regions; increasing depressive severity throughout adolescence (age 10?19) was associated with greater connectivity between fusiform and occipital gyri. High symptom severity that alleviated over time was related to greater connectivity among cognitive control regions, while moderate symptoms that worsened over time were associated with greater connectivity between cognitive and self-referential processing regions. Depression history-associated structural connectivity patterns may relate to altered affective and cognitive processing in late adolescence. The present findings contribute to knowledge of the neurobiological correlates of clinically relevant patterns of depression progression. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health",
year = "2020",
month = nov,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1111/jcpp.13184",
language = "English",
volume = "61",
pages = "1224--1233",
journal = "Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines",
issn = "0021-9630",
number = "11",
}