fMRI activation in late-life anxious depression: A potential biomarker

Abstract

Objective and Methods: The neurobiology of late-life anxious depression (LLAD) is poorly characterized despite evidence that this is a common and severe subtype of late-life depression. To identify the neuroanatomical substrate of LLAD, we examined event-related fMRI data collected in eight subjects with late-life depression, half of whom had high levels of comorbid anxiety. Subjects were trained on the Preparing to Overcome Prepotency (POP) task, which is an executive control task that reliably activates the lateral prefrontal cortex-anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) cognitive control circuit. Results: Time series analysis showed that, when compared with elderly depressed subjects, elderly su..