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Published on: January 2, 2012
Cortical thickness and brain volumetric analysis in body dysmorphic disorder
Sarah K Madsen1, Alex Zai2, Tara Pirnia2
1Imaging Genetics Center, Institute for Neuroimaging & Informatics, Department of Neurology, University of Southern California, Marina del Rey, CA, USA; Departments of Neurology, Psychiatry, Radiology, Pediatrics, Engineering, & Ophthalmology, University of Southern California, Los Angles, CA, USA.
Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) research found no significant brain structure differences between patients and controls. However, greater anxiety in BDD was linked to thinner gray matter in one brain region and increased volume in another.
Area of Science:
- Neuroimaging
- Psychiatry
- Brain Anatomy
Background:
- Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) affects 1-2% of the population, causing significant distress and disability due to appearance preoccupations.
- The neurobiology of BDD remains poorly understood, with prior studies yielding inconsistent results, potentially due to small sample sizes.
- No previous research has specifically examined cortical thickness in individuals with BDD.
Purpose of the Study:
- To conduct the largest neuroimaging analysis to date on BDD.
- To investigate differences in gray matter cortical thickness and volume between individuals with BDD and healthy controls.
- To explore associations between brain morphometry and clinical BDD symptoms, including severity, insight, and anxiety.
Main Methods:
- Recruited 49 medication-free individuals with DSM-IV BDD and 44 matched healthy controls.
- Utilized high-resolution T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for neuroimaging.
- Computed vertex-wise gray matter (GM) thickness and volume using voxel-based morphometry and analyzed regional volumes.
Main Results:
- No significant differences in overall cortical thickness, GM volume, or regional volumes were found between the BDD group and controls.
- In the BDD group, higher anxiety levels correlated with thinner GM in the left superior temporal cortex.
- Increased GM volume in the right caudate nucleus was also associated with greater anxiety in individuals with BDD.
Conclusions:
- Brain morphometric patterns in BDD may be characterized by subtle associations with clinical symptoms rather than substantial group differences in brain structure.
- Neuroimaging findings suggest that anxiety, a common comorbidity, might be linked to specific regional brain morphometric variations in BDD.
- Further research with larger sample sizes is warranted to elucidate the neurobiological underpinnings of BDD.
