Neuroanatomical associations of depression, anxiety and apathy neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

Depression, anxiety and apathy are 'common neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) in Alzheimer's disease (AD). We aimed to find regional gray matter (GM) volume difference of these symptoms, in AD patients compared to AD control, and investigate possible associations of GM atrophy with cognitive covariant. Study subjects were retrieved from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative database. Thirty-five participants are AD control, 27 AD patients with anxiety, 19 with depression and 24 with apathy, ages ≥ 55.1 years. Recruited subjects had an assessment of their clinical and structural MRI data. GM differences and clinical data were analyzed using voxel-based morphometry and ANOVA with Scheffe post hoc test, respectively. We found significant GM volumes differences in the left insula, left parahippocampal, posterior cingulate and the bilateral putamen in the anxiety group. The results also revealed that the right parahippocampal, Brodmann area 38 and the middle frontal gyrus were significant in patients with depression. Significant results were with a p < 0.05, corrected with AlphaSim program for multiple comparisons. The left insula had a strong negative association with Clinical Dementia Rate Sum of Boxes and Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale-13 items in anxiety and apathy groups. The difference in GM density in the left insula and hippocampus plays a crucial role in depression, anxiety and apathy NPS and outline precise approaches to test these symptoms.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; Anxiety; Apathy; Depression; Left insula; Neuropsychiatric symptoms.