Course of illness, hippocampal function, and hippocampal volume in major depression

Studies have examined hippocampal function and volume in depressed subjects, but none have systematically compared never-treated first-episode patients with those who have had multiple episodes. We sought to compare hippocampal function, as assessed by performance on hippocampal-dependent recollection memory tests, and hippocampal volumes, as measured in a 1.5-T magnetic resonance imager, in depressed subjects experiencing a postpubertal onset of depression. Twenty never-treated depressed subjects in a first episode of depression were compared with matched healthy control subjects. Seventeen depressed subjects with multiple past episodes of depression were also compared with matched healthy controls and to the…

• CI
  Canadian Institutes of Health Research