RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Elevated body weight modulates subcortical volume change and associated clinical response following electroconvulsive therapy
JF Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience
JO JPN
FD Canadian Medical Association
SP E418
OP E426
DO 10.1503/jpn.200176
VO 46
IS 4
A1 Opel, Nils
A1 Narr, Katherine L.
A1 Abbott, Christopher
A1 Argyelan, Miklos
A1 Espinoza, Randall
A1 Emsell, Louise
A1 Bouckaert, Filip
A1 Sienaert, Pascal
A1 Vandenbulcke, Mathieu
A1 Nordanskog, Pia
A1 Repple, Jonathan
A1 Kavakbasi, Erhan
A1 Jorgensen, Martin B.
A1 Paulson, Olaf B.
A1 Hanson, Lars G.
A1 Dols, Annemieke
A1 van Exel, Eric
A1 Oudega, Mardien L.
A1 Takamiya, Akihiro
A1 Kishimoto, Taishiro
A1 Ousdal, Olga Therese
A1 Haavik, Jan
A1 Hammar, Åsa
A1 Oedegaard, Ketil Joachim
A1 Kessler, Ute
A1 Bartsch, Hauke
A1 Dale, Anders M.
A1 Baune, Bernhard T.
A1 Dannlowski, Udo
A1 Oltedal, Leif
A1 Redlich, Ronny
YR 2021
UL http://jpn.ca/content/46/4/E418.abstract
AB Background: Obesity is a frequent somatic comorbidity of major depression, and it has been associated with worse clinical outcomes and brain structural abnormalities. Converging evidence suggests that electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) induces both clinical improvements and increased subcortical grey matter volume in patients with depression. However, it remains unknown whether increased body weight modulates the clinical response and structural neuroplasticity that occur with ECT.Methods: To address this question, we conducted a longitudinal investigation of structural MRI data from the Global ECT-MRI Research Collaboration (GEMRIC) in 223 patients who were experiencing a major depressive episode (10 scanning sites). Structural MRI data were acquired before and after ECT, and we assessed change in subcortical grey matter volume using FreeSurfer and Quarc.Results: Higher body mass index (BMI) was associated with a significantly lower increase in subcortical grey matter volume following ECT. We observed significant negative associations between BMI and change in subcortical grey matter volume, with pronounced effects in the thalamus and putamen, where obese participants showed increases in grey matter volume that were 43.3% and 49.6%, respectively, of the increases found in participants with normal weight. As well, BMI significantly moderated the association between subcortical grey matter volume change and clinical response to ECT. We observed no significant association between BMI and clinical response to ECT.Limitations: Because only baseline BMI values were available, we were unable to study BMI changes during ECT and their potential association with clinical and grey matter volume change.Conclusion: Future studies should take into account the relevance of body weight as a modulator of structural neuroplasticity during ECT treatment and aim to further explore the functional relevance of this novel finding.