Comparative study of magnetic resonance imaging-based neuroimaging methods in older adults with depression

Older patients with depression often have accompanying physical diseases, thus, their disease situation is more complex than that of younger people. The medical community has aimed for earlier diagnosis of senile depression due to ineffective treatment and eventual cognitive impairment.

Neuroimaging markers of senile depression were identified through the systematic analysis of multimodal data including resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) and structural MRI (sMRI), and compared with clinical neural scales between older participants with and without depression.

Morphological analysis of gray matter by MRI showed significantly enlarged volumes in the left inferior temporal gyrus and right talus fissure, and reduced volumes in the left parahippocampal gyrus and lentiform globus pallidus in the older depression group compared with those in the control group. Comparison of fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation between the groups showed increased partial brain activity in the left posterior central gyrus and right anterior central gyrus in the depression group compared with those in the control group.

Older patients with depression showed significant organic changes and significantly increased local brain activity. There was a positive correlation between the intensity of local brain activity in the superior occipital gyrus and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale scores.

It is important to assess the organic changes and the degree of brain activity in specific brain regions in the clinical diagnosis of depression in the older adults, to adjust treatment plans early according to the incidence.