Alterations in structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging associated with cognitive function in patients...

Cognitive impairment is a prominent feature in the clinical presentation of major depressive disorder (MDD). Patients with MDD have brain structural and functional abnormalities. However, the association between such abnormalities and cognitive function remains unclear.

For this research, 105 patients with treatment-naïve first-episode MDD and 53 healthy controls (HCs) underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and neuropsychological assessment. The MRI main indicators included sulcus depth (SD), local gyration index (LGI) and amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (ALFF). The MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) was used for neuropsychological assessment. The support vector machine (SVM) was used to assess the accuracy of the classification.

Compared with the HCs, the patients with MDD had significant decreases in five dimensions of the MCCB, as well as in SD in the left superior temporal sulcus and inferior parietal cortex, but had an increases in LGI in the left precuneus cortex and pericalcarine cortex and ALFF of the left calcarine fissure and surrounding cortex. In addition, the visual learning score (one MCCB dimension) was negatively associated with the SD of the left superior temporal sulcus and positively associated with the ALFF of left calcarine fissure and surrounding cortex. The SVM has a relatively good ability to distinguish patients with MDD and HCs.

Cognitive impairment in patients with MDD was associated with abnormal an SD and ALFF. These findings help to further understand cognitive impairment in patients with MDD.