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Published on: May 19, 2015
Greater white matter hyperintensities and the association with executive function in suicide attempters with
Chemin Lin1, Chih-Mao Huang2, Helmet T Karim3
1Department of Psychiatry, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Keelung, Taiwan; College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan County, Taiwan; Community Medicine Research Center, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Keelung, Taiwan.
Abstract:
Late-life depression (LLD) is associated with greater risk of suicide and white matter hyperintensities (WMH), which are also found in suicide attempters regardless of age. Greater periventricular WMH are related to worse cognitive function. We investigated the spatial distribution of WMH in suicide attempters with LLD and its association with cognitive function. We recruited 114 participants with LLD (34 with history of suicide attempt and 80 without) and 47 older adult controls (individuals without LLD or history of suicide attempt). WMH were quantified by an automated segmentation algorithm and were classified into different regions. Suicide attempters with LLD had significantly higher global WMH (F3, 150 = 2.856, p = 0.039) and periventricular WMH (F3, 150 = 3.635, p = 0.014) compared to other groups. Suicide attempters with high WMH had significantly lower executive function, which could be an underlying mechanism for cognitive decline in older adults with suicidality.
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