Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging
Volume 173, Issue 2 , Pages 121-127 , 30 August 2009

The relation of worry to prefrontal cortex volume in older adults with and without generalized anxiety disorder

  • Jan Mohlman

      Affiliations

    • Rutgers University, Department of Psychology, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Rutgers University Department of Psychology, 152 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
  • ,
  • Rebecca B. Price

      Affiliations

    • Rutgers University, Department of Psychology, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
  • ,
  • Dana A. Eldreth

      Affiliations

    • Rutgers University, Department of Psychology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA
  • ,
  • Daniel Chazin

      Affiliations

    • Rutgers University, Department of Psychology, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
  • ,
  • Dorie M. Glover

      Affiliations

    • University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
  • ,
  • Wendy R. Kates

      Affiliations

    • State University of New York Upstate Medical University, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA

Received 10 April 2008 ,Revised 12 July 2008 ,Accepted 18 September 2008.

References 

  1. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—Text Revision. 4th ed.. Washington, DC: APA; 2000;
  2. Antony MM, Orsillo SM, Roemer L. Practitioner's Guide to Empirically Based Measures of Anxiety. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers; 2001;
  3. Babcock RL, Laguna LB, Laguna KD, Urusky DA. Age differences in the experience of worry. Journal of Mental Health and Aging. 2000;6:227–234
  4. Barger SD, Sydeman SJ. Does generalized anxiety disorder predict coronary heart disease risk factors independently of major depressive disorder?. Behaviour Research & Therapy. 2005;88:87–91
  5. Barlow DH. Disorders of emotion. Psychological Inquiry. 1991;2:58–71
  6. Barta PE, Dhingra L, Royall R, Schwartz E. Improving stereological estimates for the volume of structures identified in three-dimensional arrays of spatial data. Journal of Neuroscience Methods. 1997;75:111–118
  7. Beck AT, Steer RA. Manual for the Beck Anxiety Inventory. San Antonio, TX: the Psychological Corporation; 1990;
  8. Beck JG, Stanley MA, Zebb BJ. Psychometric properties of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire in older adults. Journal of Clinical Geropsychology. 1995;1:33–42
  9. Beck JG, Stanley MA, Zebb BJ. Characteristics of generalized anxiety disorder in older adults: a descriptive study. Behaviour Research & Therapy. 1996;34:225–234
  10. Beekman ATF, Bremmer MA, Deeg DJH, VanBalkom AJLM, Smit JH, DeBeurs E. Anxiety disorders in later life: a report from the longitudinal aging study Amsterdam. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. 1998;13:717–726
  11. Beer JS, Knight RT, D'Esposito M. Controlling the integration of emotion and cognition: the role of frontal cortex in distinguishing helpful from hurtful emotional information. Psychological Science. 2006;17:448–453
  12. Behar E, Alcaine O, Zuellig AR, Borkovec TD. Screening for generalized anxiety disorder using the Penn State Worry Questionnaire: a receiver operating characteristics analysis. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry. 2003;34:25–43
  13. Blazer DG. Depression in late life: review and commentary. Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences. 2003;56A:249–265
  14. Borkovec TD. Comments on “Worry as a phenomenon related to the elderly”. Behavior Therapy. 1988;19:381–383
  15. Borkovec TD. The nature, functions, and origins of worry. In:  Davey G,  Tallis F editor. Worrying: Perspectives on Theory, Assessment, and Treatment. Sussex, England: Wiley & Sons; 1994;p. 5–33
  16. Borkovec TD, Robinson E, Pruzinsky T, DePree JA. Preliminary exploration of worry: some characteristics and processes. Behaviour Research and Therapy. 1983;21:9–16
  17. Borkovec TD, Alcaine OM, Behar E. Avoidance theory of worry and generalized anxiety disorder. In:  Heimberg RG,  Turk CL,  Mennin DS editor. Generalized Anxiety Disorder. New York: The Guilford Press; 2004;p. 77–108
  18. Brown TA, Barlow DH, Liebowitz MR. The empirical basis of generalized anxiety disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry. 1994;151:1272–1280
  19. Bruce SE, Machan JT, Dyck I, Keller MB. Infrequency of “pure” GAD: impact of psychiatric comorbidity on clinical course. Depression and Anxiety. 2001;14:219–225
  20. Carter WR, Johnson MC, Borkovec TD. Worry: an electrocortical analysis. Advances in Behaviour Research and Therapy. 1986;8:193–204
  21. DeBeurs E, Beekman ATF, van Balkom AJLM, Deeg DJH, van Dyck R, van Tilburg W. Consequences of anxiety in older persons: its effect on disability, well being, and use of health services. Psychological Medicine. 1999;29:583–593
  22. Elliott R, Dolan RJ, Frith CD. Dissociable functions in the medial and lateral orbitofrontal cortex: evidence from human neuroimaging studies. Cerebral Cortex. 2000;10:308–317
  23. Evans DW, Lewis MD, Iobst E. The role of the orbitofrontal cortex in normally developing compulsive-like behaviors and obsessive–compulsive disorder. Brain and Cognition. 2004;55:220–234
  24. First MB, Gibbon M, Spitzer RL, Williams JBW. In: Structured clinical interview for DSM-IV Axis I disorders. (SCID-I, version 2.0, October 1995, Final Version). New York: Biometrics Department, New York State Psychiatric Institute; 1995;
  25. Flint A. Epidemiology and comorbidity of anxiety disorders in the elderly. American Journal of Psychiatry. 1994;150:640–649
  26. Flint A. Anxiety disorders in late life. Canadian Family Physician. 1999;45:2672–2679
  27. Folstein SE, Folstein MF, McHugh PR. “Mini-mental state”: a practical method for grading the mental state of patients for the clinician. Journal of Psychiatric Research. 1975;12:189–198
  28. Fresco DM, Mennin DS, Heimberg RG, Turk CL. Confirmatory factor analysis of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire. Behaviour Research and Therapy. 2002;28:487–495
  29. Goldman-Rakic PS, Brown RM. Regional changes of monoamines in cerebral cortex and subcortical structures of aging rhesus monkeys. Neuroscience. 1981;6:177–187
  30. Goldstein JM, Seidman LJ, Horton NJ, Makris N, Kennedy DN, Cainess VS. Normal sexual dimorphism of the adult human brain assessed by in vivo magnetic resonance imaging. Cerebral Cortex. 2001;11I:490–497
  31. Good CD, Johnsrude IS, Ashburner J, Henson RNA, Fristen KJ, Frackowiak RSJ. A voxel-based morphometric study of ageing in 465 normal adult human brains. NeuroImage. 2001;14:21–36
  32. Gorwood P. Generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder comorbidity: an example of genetic pleiotropy?. European Psychiatry. 2004;19:27–33
  33. Gray M, Kemp AH, Silberstein RB, Nathan PJ. Cortical neurophysiology of anticipatory anxiety: an investigation utilizing steady state probe topography (SSPT). NeuroImage. 2003;20:975–986
  34. Grieve SM, Clark CR, Williams LM, Peduto AJ, Gordon E. Preservation of limbic and paralimbic structures in aging. Human Brain Mapping. 2005;25:391–401
  35. Gur RC, Gunning-Dixon F, Bilker WB, Gur RE. Sex differences in temporo-limbic and frontal brain volumes of healthy adults. Cerebral Cortex. 2000;12:998–1003
  36. Hachinski VC, Potter P, Merskey H. Leuko-araiosis. Archives of Neurology. 1987;44:21–23
  37. Hariri AR, Mattay A, Tessitore F, Fera D, Weinberger DR. Neocortical modulation of the amygdala response to fearful stimuli. Biological Psychiatry. 2003;53:494–501
  38. Hasher L, Zacks RT. Working memory, comprehension, and aging: a review and a new view. In:  Bower G editors. The Psychology of Learning and Motivation: Advances in Research and Theory. vol. 22:San Diego: Academic Press; 1988;p. 193–225
  39. Heller W, Nitschke JB, Etienne MA, Miller GA. Patterns of regional brain activity differentiate types of anxiety. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 1997;106:376–385
  40. Himmelfarb S, Murrell SA. Reliability and validity of five mental health scales in older persons. Journal of Gerontology. 1983;38:333–339
  41. Hoehn-Saric R, McLeod DR, Zimmerli W. Somatic manifestations in women with generalized anxiety disorder: psychophysiological responses to psychological stress. Archives of General Psychiatry. 1989;46:1113–1119
  42. Hoehn-Saric R, Schlund MW, Wong SHY. Effects of citalopram on worry and brain activation in patients with generalized anxiety disorder. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging. 2004;131:11–21
  43. Hoehn-Saric R, Lee JS, McLeod DR, Wong DF. Effect of worry on regional cerebral blood flow in nonanxious subjects. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging. 2005;140:259–269
  44. Hofmann SG, Moscovitch DA, Litz BT, Kim H-J, Davis LL, Pizzagalli D. The worried mind: autonomic and prefrontal activation during worrying. Emotion. 2005;5:464–475
  45. Jeste DV, Alexopoulos GS, Bartels SJ, Cummings JL, Gallo JJ, Gottlieb GL, et al. Consensus statement on the upcoming crisis in geriatric mental health. Archives of General Psychiatry. 1999;56:848–853
  46. Kates W, Abrams MT, Kaufmann WE, Breiter SN, Reiss AL. Reliability and validity of MRI measurement of the amygdala and hippocampus in children with fragile X syndrome. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging. 1997;75:31–48
  47. Kennedy BL, Schwab JJ. Utilization of medical specialists by anxiety disorder patients. Psychosomatics. 1997;38:109–112
  48. Kent JM, Rauch SL. Neuroimaging studies of anxiety disorders. In:  Charney DS,  Nestler EJ editor. Neurobiology of Mental Illness. 2nd ed.. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc.; 2004;p. 639–660
  49. Kessler RC, DuPont RL, Berglund P, Wittchen H. Impairment in pure and comorbid generalized anxiety disorder and major depression at 12 months in two national surveys. American Journal of Psychiatry. 1999;156:1915–1923
  50. Kim HF, Kunik ME, Molinari V, Hillman S, Lalani S, Orengo CA, et al. Functional impairment in COPD patients: the impact of anxiety and depression. Psychosomatics. 2000;41:465–471
  51. Kinsella K, Velkoff VA. U.S. Census Bureau, Series 95/0-1, An Aging World. Washington DC: US Government Printing Office; 2001;
  52. Kogan JN, Edelstein BA, McKee DR. Assessment of anxiety in older adults: current status. Journal of Anxiety Disorders. 1999;14:109–132
  53. Krishnan KRR, McDonald WM, Doraiswamy PM, Tupler LA, Husain M, Boyko OB. Neuroanatomical substrates of depression in the elderly. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience. 1992;243:41–46
  54. Kubzansky LD, Kawachi I, Spiro A, Weiss ST, Vokonas PS, Sparrow D. Is worrying bad for your heart? A prospective study of worry and coronary heart disease in the normative aging study. Circulation. 1997;95:818–824
  55. Kumar A, Bilker W, Zhisong J, Udupa J. Atrophy and high intensity lesions: complementary neurobiological mechanisms in late life major depression. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2000;22:264–274
  56. Kumar A, Haroon E, Darwin C, Pham D, Ajilore O, Rodriguez G, et al. Gray matter prefrontal changes in type 2 diabetes detected using MRI. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging. 2007;27:14–19
  57. Lawton MP, Kleban MH, Dean J. Affect and age: cross sectional comparisons of structure and prevalence. Psychology & Aging. 1993;8:165–175
  58. Lorberbaum JP, Kose S, Johnson MR, Arana GW, Sullivan LK, Mamner MB. Neural correlates of speech anticipatory anxiety in generalized social phobia. NeuroReport. 2004;15:2702–2705
  59. MacPherson SE, Phillips LH, Della Sala S. Age, executive function, and social decision making: a dorsolateral prefrontal theory of cognitive aging. Psychology & Aging. 2002;17:598–609
  60. Mathew, S.J., Steinbugler, M., Smith, E.L.P., in press. Neurochemistry of generalized anxiety disorder. In: Kinrys, G., Renshaw, P.F. (Eds.). Understanding Anxiety: Its Neurobiological Basis and Treatment. Taylor & Francis, New York.
  61. McAlonan K, Brown VJ. Orbital prefrontal cortex mediates reversal learning and not attentional set shifting in the rat. Behavioural Brain Research. 2003;146:97–103
  62. Meyer T, Miller ML, Metzger RL, Borkovec TD. Development and validity of the Penn State Worry Scale. Behaviour Research & Therapy. 1990;28:487–495
  63. Mitte K. Meta-analysis of cognitive behavioral treatments for generalized anxiety disorder: a comparison with pharmacotherapy. Psychological Bulletin. 2005;131:785–795
  64. Mogotsi M, Kaminer D, Stein DJ. Quality of life in the anxiety disorders. Harvard Review of Psychiatry. 2000;8:273–282
  65. Mohlman J. Psychosocial treatment of late life generalized anxiety disorder: current status and future directions. Clinical Psychology Review. 2004;24:149–169
  66. Mohlman J, Gorman JM. The role of executive functioning in CBT: a pilot study with anxious older adults. Behaviour Research and Therapy. 2005;43:447–465
  67. Molina S, Borkovec TD. The Penn State Worry Questionnaire: psychometric properties and associated characteristics. In:  Davey GCL,  Tallis F editor. Worrying: Perspectives on Theory, Assessment and Treatment. New York: Wiley; 1994;p. 265–283
  68. Nitschke JB, Heller W, Palmieri PA, Miller GA. Contrasting patterns of brain activity in anxious apprehension and anxious arousal. Psychophysiology. 1999;36:628–637
  69. Nitschke JB, Heller W, Miller GA. Anxiety, stress, and cortical brain function. In:  Borod JC editors. The Neuropsychology of Emotion. New York: Oxford University Press; 2000;p. 298–319
  70. Noyes R. Comorbidity in generalized anxiety disorder. Psychiatric Clinics of North America. 2001;24:41–55
  71. Raz N, Gunning-Dixon FM, Head D, Dupuis JH, Acker JD. Neuroanatomical correlates of cognitive aging: evidence from structural magnetic resonance imaging. Neuropsychology. 1998;12:95–114
  72. Ruscio AM. Delimiting the boundaries of generalized anxiety disorder. Journal of Anxiety Disorders. 2002;16:377–400
  73. Ruscio AM, Borkovec TD. A taxometric investigation of the latent structure of worry. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 2001;110:413–422
  74. Ruscio AM, Lane M, Roy-Byrne P, Stang PE, Stein DJ, Wittchen HU. Should excessive worry be required for a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder? Results from the US National Comorbidity Study. Psychological Medicine. 2005;35:1–12
  75. Salerno JA, Murphy DG, Horwitz B, DeCarli C, Haxby JV, Rapoport SI. Brain atrophy in hypertension. A volumetric magnetic resonance imaging study Hypertension. 1992;20:340–348
  76. Schoenbaum G, Setlow B, Nugent SL, Saddoris MP, Gallagher M. Lesions of orbitofrontal cortex and basolateral amygdala complex disrupt acquisition of odor-guided discrimination and reversals. Learning and Memory. 2003;10:129–140
  77. Sinha S, Mohlman J, Gorman JM. Neurobiology of generalized anxiety disorder. In:  Heimberg RG,  Turk CL,  Mennin DS editor. Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Advances in Research and Practice. New York: Guilford; 2004;p. 187–216
  78. Skarborn M, Nicki R. Worry in pre- and post-retirement persons. International Journal of Aging and Human Development. 2000;50:61–71
  79. Spielberger C, Gorsuch R, Lushene R, Vagg PR, Jacobs GA. State-Trait Anxiety Inventory: Test Manual. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists; 1983;
  80. Stanley MA, Novy DM. Cognitive behavior therapy for generalized anxiety disorder in late life. Journal of Anxiety Disorders. 2000;14:191–207
  81. Stanley MA, Beck JG, Glassco JD. Treatment of generalized anxiety in older adults: a preliminary comparison of cognitive-behavioral and supportive approaches. Behavior Therapy. 1996;27:565–581
  82. Stanley MA, Beck JG, Zebb BJ. Characteristics of generalized anxiety disorder in older adults: a descriptive study. Behaviour Research & Therapy. 1996;34:225–234
  83. Stanley MA, Beck JG, Novy DM, Averill PM, Swann AC, Diefenbach GJ, et al. Cognitive behavioral treatment of late-life generalized anxiety disorder. Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology. 2003;71:309–319
  84. Strassburger TL, Lee H-C, Daly EM, Szczepanik J, Krasuski JS, Mentis MJ. Interactive effects of age and hypertension on volumes of brain structures. Stroke. 1997;28:1410–1417
  85. Taylor WD, MacFall JR, Payne ME, McQuoid DR, Provenzale JM, Steffens DC. Late-life depression and microstructural abnormalities in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex white matter. American Journal of Psychiatry. 2004;617:1293–1296
  86. Thayer JF, Lane RD. A model of neurovisceral integration in emotion regulation and dysregulation. Journal of Affective Disorders. 2000;61:201–216
  87. Tisserand DJ, Pruessner JC, Sanzarigita E, Van Boxtel MPJ, Evans AC, Jolles J. Regional frontal cortical volumes decrease differentially in aging: an MRI study to compare volumetric approaches and voxel based morphometry. NeuroImage. 2002;17:657–669
  88. Vasa RA, Gradod M, Slomine B, Herskovits EH, Thompson RE, Salorio C, et al. Neuroimaging correlates of anxiety after pediatric traumatic brain injury. Biological Psychiatry. 2004;55:208–216
  89. Wetherell JL, Gatz M, Craske MG. Treatment of generalized anxiety disorder in older adults. Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology. 2003;71:31–40
  90. Wetherell JL, LeRoux H, Gatz M. DSM-IV criteria for generalized anxiety disorder in older adults: distinguishing the worried from the well. Psychology & Aging. 2003;18:622–627
  91. West RL. An application of prefrontal cortex function theory to cognitive aging. Psychological Bulletin. 1996;120:272–292
  92. Whitbourne S. The Aging Body: Physiological Changes and Psychological Consequences. New York: Springer Verlag; 1985;

PII: S0925-4927(08)00150-9

doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2008.09.010

Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging
Volume 173, Issue 2 , Pages 121-127 , 30 August 2009