We recently showed that late-life participants with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), compared with non-anxious elderly, had lower cortical thickness in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). In this follow-up study, we investigated the association between cortical thickness and clinical markers of treatment response in a subgroup from that same sample. Twelve GAD participants were randomly selected and were included in an open label twelve-week treatment with citalopram and pre-/post-treatment magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Cortical thickness measurements were obtained with Freesurfer. Six regions were selected based on previous results: left dorsal ACC, left rostral ACC, left and right medial orbitofrontal, right pars triangularis and right pars opercularis. A two-tailed paired t-test (non-parametric Wilcoxon Signed Rank test) was used to compare pre- and post-treatment for all clinical variables. For each region of interest (ROI), the Pearson correlation coefficient was estimated between pre-treatment cortical thickness and change in Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) from pre- to post-treatment. Our results indicate that greater left pre-treatment dorsal ACC cortical thickness was associated with improvement in worry severity post-treatment. In late-life GAD, greater treatment response is associated with greater cortical thickness in areas pivotal for emotion regulation.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.