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. 2017 Jul;25(7):744-752.
doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2017.02.014. Epub 2017 Feb 16.

Steeper Slope of Age-Related Changes in White Matter Microstructure and Processing Speed in Bipolar Disorder

Sheena I Dev  1 , Tanya T Nguyen  2 , Benjamin S McKenna  3 , Ashley N Sutherland  4 , Hauke Bartsch  5 , Rebecca J Theilmann  5 , Lisa T Eyler  6
Affiliations

Steeper Slope of Age-Related Changes in White Matter Microstructure and Processing Speed in Bipolar Disorder

Sheena I Dev et al. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2017 Jul.

Abstract

Objectives: Bipolar disorder (BD) is associated with compromised white matter (WM) integrity and deficits in processing speed (PS). Few studies, however, have investigated age relationships with WM structure and cognition to understand possible changes in brain health over the lifespan. This investigation explored whether BD and healthy counterpart (HC) participants exhibited differential age-related associations with WM and cognition, which may be suggestive of accelerated brain and cognitive aging.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: University of California San Diego and the Veterans Administration San Diego Healthcare System.

Participants: 33 euthymic BD and 38 HC participants.

Measurements: Diffusion tensor imaging was acquired as a measure of WM integrity, and tract-specific fractional anisotropy (FA) was extracted utilizing the Johns Hopkins University probability atlas. PS was assessed with the Number and Letter Sequencing conditions of the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System Trail Making Test.

Results: BD participants demonstrated slower PS compared with the HC group, but no group differences were found in FA across tracts. Multiple linear regressions revealed a significant group-by-age interaction for the right uncinate fasciculus, the left hippocampal portion of the cingulum, and for PS, such that older age was associated with lower FA values and slower PS in the BD group only. The relationship between age and PS did not significantly change after accounting for uncinate FA, suggesting that the observed age associations occur independently.

Conclusions: Results provide support for future study of the accelerated aging hypothesis by identifying markers of brain health that demonstrate a differential age association in BD.

Keywords: Bipolar; DTI; aging; processing speed; white matter.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Scatter plot demonstrating the interaction of group [Bipolar (BD) vs. Healthy Control (HC)] and age on the Fractional Anisotropy (FA) of the right uncinate fasciculus (t(3) = 2.83, p = 0.006) and on processing speed composite score (in seconds; t(3) = −1.96, p = 0.05). Higher processing speed composite score indicates slower performance.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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