Project description:
Cognitive deficits such as memory and concentration problems are not only prevalent during acute phases of depressive disorders but often persist during symptom-free periods and can worsen with recurring depressive episodes. A comprehensive longitudinal study involving 881 participants - 418 with depression and 463 without - revealed that those affected generally exhibited stronger cognitive deficits and an accelerated deterioration of brain fiber bundles, akin to "potholes" in the brain's "highway network" used for transmitting information. This deterioration, as well as an unfavorable course of depression, predicted a further decline in cognitive abilities. Changes in brain structure and the prevention of new depressive episodes could be crucial focal points for future treatment strategies.
Publication:
Flinkenflügel, K., Meinert, S., (…) & Dannlowski, U. (2024). Associations between white matter microstructure and cognitive decline in major depressive disorder versus controls in Germany: a prospective case-control cohort study. Lancet Psychiatry, 11(11), 899-909.
Paper: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(24)00291-8/fulltext
Submitting the Paper of the Month:
Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung is using the series “Paper of the Month” to report in an exemplary and hot-off-the-press style on the outstanding work being done by the scientists it supports. We regularly present publications which have recently appeared in especially renowned journals, have emerged from foundation funding and been given appropriate acknowledgment. This is done in the respective categories “Original Paper” and “Review”. In the case of each of these publications, the first author and/or senior author are being funded by the foundation.
We invite all project managers, fellowship recipients and members of graduate study programs to send their work in accordance with the stated criteria as proposal for Paper of the Month to Ms. Anne Asschenfeldt (a.asschenfeldt@ekfs.de).
More Paper of the Month can be found here.
