Childhood Maltreatment Is Associated with Larger Left Thalamic Gray Matter Volume in Adolescents with Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Open Access
- 12 August 2013
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Public Library of Science (PLoS) in PLOS ONE
- Vol. 8 (8), e71898
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0071898
Abstract
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a common anxiety disorder that usually begins in adolescence. Childhood maltreatment is highly prevalent and increases the possibility for developing a variety of mental disorders including anxiety disorders. An earlier age at onset of GAD is significantly related to maltreatment in childhood. Exploring the underpinnings of the relationship between childhood maltreatment and adolescent onset GAD would be helpful in identifying the potential risk markers of this condition. Twenty-six adolescents with GAD and 25 healthy controls participated in this study. A childhood trauma questionnaire (CTQ) was introduced to assess childhood maltreatment. All subjects underwent high-resolution structural magnetic resonance scans. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to investigate gray matter alterations. Significantly larger gray matter volumes of the right putamen were observed in GAD patients compared to healthy controls. In addition, a significant diagnosis-by-maltreatment interaction effect for the left thalamic gray matter volume was revealed, as shown by larger volumes of the left thalamic gray matter in GAD patients with childhood maltreatment compared with GAD patients without childhood maltreatment as well as with healthy controls with/without childhood maltreatment. A significant positive association between childhood maltreatment and left thalamic gray matter volume was only seen in GAD patients. These findings revealed an increased volume in the subcortical regions in adolescent GAD, and the alterations in the left thalamus might be involved in the association between childhood maltreatment and the occurrence of GAD.This publication has 63 references indexed in Scilit:
- Childhood maltreatment is associated with reduced volume in the hippocampal subfields CA3, dentate gyrus, and subiculumProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2012
- Early life stress affects cerebral glucose metabolism in adult rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta)Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 2012
- Corticostriatal-Limbic Gray Matter Morphology in Adolescents With Self-reported Exposure to Childhood MaltreatmentArchives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 2011
- Exposure to parental verbal abuse is associated with increased gray matter volume in superior temporal gyrusNeuroImage, 2011
- Sex differences in the adolescent brainBrain and Cognition, 2010
- The Neurocircuitry of Fear, Stress, and Anxiety DisordersNeuropsychopharmacology, 2009
- Stress signalling pathways that impair prefrontal cortex structure and functionNature Reviews Neuroscience, 2009
- Co-morbid major depression and generalized anxiety disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey follow-upPsychological Medicine, 2007
- Evolving knowledge of sex differences in brain structure, function, and chemistryBiological Psychiatry, 2007
- Lifetime Prevalence and Age-of-Onset Distributions of DSM-IV Disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey ReplicationArchives of General Psychiatry, 2005