Hippocampal volume and 2-year outcome in depression

Abstract

Although the hippocampus has been found to be smaller in people with depression, the clinical relevance of this is unclear. We investigated hippocampal volume (using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging) and 2-year outcome in 57 patients with major depression. The left and right hippocampal volumes of patients with a depression relapse were significantly smaller than those of healthy controls. Our results support the hypothesis that the hippocampus is crucial in the outcome of depression.