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. 2013 Jun 11;8(6):e64065.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0064065. Print 2013.

Long-term occupational stress is associated with regional reductions in brain tissue volumes

Eva Blix  1 , Aleksander Perski, Hans Berglund, Ivanka Savic
Affiliations

Long-term occupational stress is associated with regional reductions in brain tissue volumes

Eva Blix et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

There are increasing reports of cognitive and psychological declines related to occupational stress in subjects without psychiatric premorbidity or major life trauma. The underlying neurobiology is unknown, and many question the notion that the described disabilities represent a medical condition. Using PET we recently found that persons suffering from chronic occupational stress had limbic reductions in the 5-HT1A receptor binding potential. Here we examine whether chronic work-related stress is also associated with changes in brain structure. We performed MRI-based voxel-based morphometry and structural volumetry in stressed subjects and unstressed controls focusing on gray (GM) and white matter (WM) volumes, and the volumes of hippocampus, caudate, and putamen - structures known to be susceptible to neurotoxic changes. Stressed subjects exhibited significant reductions in the GM volumes of the anterior cingulate cortex and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Furthermore, their caudate and putamen volumes were reduced, and the volumes correlated inversely to the degree of perceived stress. Our results add to previous data on chronic psychosocial stress, and indicate a morphological involvement of the frontostriatal circuits. The present findings of morphological changes in these regions confirm our previous conclusion that symptoms from occupational stress merit careful investigations and targeted treatment.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: This study was partly funded by AFA Insurance. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Illustration of the limbic mask, constructed from the WFU-pick atlas (please see methods), superimposed on the mean grey matter images from the entire study population.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Reductions in GM volumes in stressed subjects.
Significant reductions in the GM (red) in stressed subjects compared with controls. Clusters calculated using peak threshold at p = 0.001, FDR corrected at p<0.05. All the clusters are superimposed on the GM template from the entire study group. The numbers indicate z-levels in MNI co-ordinates. R = right side.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Correlation analysis between stress scores (MBI-GS) and the relative putamen volume (mean of the right and left putamen/TIV) – upper panel, and the relative volume of the caudate (mean of the right and left caudate/TIV) – lower panel.
A = All subjects; B =  Control subjets only; C = Stressed subjects only.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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