Attenuated anterior cingulate activation during a verbal fluency task in elderly patients with a history of multiple-episode depression.

OBJECTIVE

Previous studies have suggested that, in elderly patients, prior depression plays a role in the recurrence of depression. The aim of this study was to investigate cerebral brain function in recovered depressed elderly and investigate the relationship between this brain function and the number of depressive episodes.

METHODS

Twenty elderly depressive patients in recovery and 10 healthy volunteers were included in this study. The depressive patients were divided into those who had experienced a single depressive episode and those who had experienced multiple episodes. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed in each participant during a verbal fluency task. The data were analyzed using statistical parametric mapping.

RESULTS

Activation in the anterior cingulate cortex was significantly attenuated in patients who had experienced multiple depressive episodes, compared with the other two groups. There were no significant differences in areas of activation between patients with a single depressive episode and healthy volunteers.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that attenuated activation in the anterior cingulate cortex may be associated with multiple episodes of depression in the elderly and with the vulnerability to cycling or recurrence.