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

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.

This is a baseline cross-sectional analysis of a cohort study of 52 depressed and 36 never-depressed older adults. Assessments included NA scores from the Type D Scale-14 and Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale scores. All subjects had a 3T brain functional magnetic resonance imaging resting scan, neuronal activity determined by amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFFs) were obtained, and resting state functional connectivity (FC) analyses were performed. Analyses of covariance were conducted on ALFFs and FC to examine significant differences between groups.

In the ALFF analyses there were clearly different patterns between depressed and comparison groups in the correlation of ALFFs 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.

This study confirms differential activity of the dorsal and ventral regions of the medial PFC 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, and amygdala activity may be a result of successful emotion regulation in never-depressed higher NA individuals.