Cortical thickness reductions in the middle frontal cortex in patients with panic disorder

Abstract

Background: Panic disorder (PD), an anxiety disorder characterized by the recurrence of panic attacks, has been reported to be associated with volumetric changes in several brain regions. There are, however, very few studies investigating abnormalities in cortical thickness, and little is known about the relationship between cortical thickness and social dysfunction in PD.

Methods: Thirty-eight patients with PD and 38 healthy control participants (HC) were recruited for this study. A whole-brain analysis was performed to evaluate groupwise differences in cortical thickness using the FreeSurfer software. Symptom severity and social functioning were evaluated with the Panic Disorder Severity Scale (PDSS) and the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale.

Results: The patients with PD demonstrated a significant reduction in cortical thickness in the left rostral middle frontal cortex (MFC), compared with the HC. Correlational analyses revealed that cortical thickness in the left rostral MFC showed a significant negative relationship with PDSS score and a significant positive relationship with GAF scores in the PD patients.

Limitations: All the patients received medication.

Conclusion: PD patients showed reduced cortical thickness in the left rostral MFC compared with HC. Furthermore, cortical thickness in this region was associated with patients' symptom severity and degree of social dysfunction.

Keywords: Cortical thickness; Middle frontal cortex; Panic disorder; Social dysfunction; Symptom severity.