Assessing Anterior Cingulate Brain Activity in People With Late-Life Depression

Completed

• Conditions: Depression
• Interventions: Drug: Escitalopram

• Registration Number: NCT00926653
• Lead Sponsor: Weill Medical College of Cornell University

Brief Summary

This study will examine differences in activity of the anterior cingulate cortex, a brain area involved in emotion and cognitive regulation, between older adults with and without depression.

Detailed Description

Older adults with depression often also suffer from executive dysfunction-problems with planning, impulse control, and reasoning. Executive dysfunction in older adults predicts poor or delayed response to antidepressant treatment and has been associated with early relapse and recurrence of late-life major depression. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a scan that can measure the activity of someone's brain while that person performs tasks. So far, no fMRI studies investigating cerebral activation patterns in late-life depression have been published. In this study, people will undergo fMRI while they are performing an executive function task. Older adults with late-life depression and older adults without depression will be tested and compared in order to identify the areas and patterns of brain activity underlying executive dysfunction in late-life depression.

Participation in this study will consist of one study visit, during which participants will undergo an fMRI scan that will last 60 to 90 minutes. While being scanned, participants will perform cognitive tasks that involve pressing buttons in response to words viewed on a screen.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2005-07
• Study First Submitted: 2009-06-22
• Study First Submitted QC: 2009-06-22
• Study First Posted: 2009-06-23
• Primary Completion: 2010-05
• Study Completion: 2010-05
• Status Verified: 2015-08
• Last Update Submitted: 2015-08-10
• Last Update Posted: 2015-08-11

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 76

Inclusion Criteria

Not provided

Exclusion Criteria

Not provided

Study & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Depressed	Escitalopram	Elderly participants with depression

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Cerebral activation, as measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)	Average of a 2 hour MRI session

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical College; 🇺🇸 White Plains, New York, United States