ArticleBiological psychiatry2010
Hippocampal changes associated with early-life adversity and vulnerability to depression.
Article in Biological psychiatry, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 176 papers, 10 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
176 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Genetics, epigenetics, and neurobiology of childhood-onset depression: an umbrella review.Molecular psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- The effect of adverse childhood experiences on chronic pain and major depression in adulthood: a systematic review and meta-analysis.British journal of anaesthesia · 2023Pooled it
- Effects of Training with Different Modes of Strength Intervention on Psychosocial Disorders in Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- A systematic review of the association between biological markers and environmental stress risk factors for adolescent depression.Journal of psychiatric research · 2021Pooled it
- Prospective biomarkers of major depressive disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Molecular psychiatry · 2020Pooled it
- Neuroimaging predictors of onset and course of depression in childhood and adolescence: A systematic review of longitudinal studies.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2019Pooled it
- MicroRNAs expressed in depression and their associated pathways: A systematic review and a bioinformatics analysis.Journal of chemical neuroanatomy · 2019Pooled it
- Exercise effects on depression: Possible neural mechanisms.General hospital psychiatry · 2017Pooled it
- Subcortical brain alterations in major depressive disorder: findings from the ENIGMA Major Depressive Disorder working group.Molecular psychiatry · 2016Pooled it
- Toward dysfunctional connectivity: a review of neuroimaging findings in pediatric major depressive disorder.Brain imaging and behavior · 2011Pooled it
- Hippocampal volume and depression among young children.Psychiatry research. Neuroimaging · 2019Trial
- The Adolescent Behavioral Activation Program: Adapting Behavioral Activation as a Treatment for Depression in Adolescence.Journal of clinical child and adolescent psychology : the official journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53 · 2016Trial
- Early life stress modulates oxytocin effects on limbic system during acute psychosocial stress.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2014Trial
- Examination of poverty trajectories and brain volume as predictors of adolescent depression.Journal of research on adolescence : the official journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence · 2026Article
- Maternal Childhood Neglect is Linked to Greater Infant Cortisol Levels and Larger Infant Limbic Volumes.Child maltreatment · 2026Article
- Distinct spatial associations of adversity with hippocampal macro- and microstructure in early adolescence.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Depression and hippocampal subfield volume in older adults.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- The ventral/anterior hippocampus as a central hub for stress-related dopaminergic circuit dysfunction in psychiatric disorders.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- Neural correlates of acceptance and commitment therapy in major depressive disorder: a task-based fMRI study.Brain imaging and behavior · 2026Article
- Associations between residential segregation, ambient air pollution, and hippocampal features in recent trauma survivors.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
116 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSmaller hippocampal volume has been reported in some adult and pediatric studies of unipolar major depressive disorder. It is not clear whether the smaller hippocampal volume precedes or is a consequence of the illness. Early-life adversity is associated with both smaller hippocampal volume and increased vulnerability to depressive disorder. Hippocampal changes may mediate the relationship between early-life adversity and depressive illness in a subset of patients. However, there are no reports of longitudinal clinical studies that have examined this issue.
methodsThirty adolescents with unipolar major depressive disorder, 22 adolescent volunteers with no personal history of a psychiatric illness including depression but who were at high risk for developing depression by virtue of parental depression (high-risk group), and 35 adolescent volunteers with no personal or family history of a psychiatric disorder (control subjects) underwent volumetric magnetic resonance imaging studies. Information was also gathered on early and recent adverse experiences with standard interviews. The participants were followed for up to 5 years to assess the onset and clinical course of depression.
resultsDepressed and high-risk groups had significantly smaller left and right hippocampal volumes than control subjects. Higher levels of early-life adversity were associated with smaller hippocampal volumes. Smaller hippocampal volume partially mediated the effect of early-life adversity on depression during longitudinal follow-up.
conclusionsSmaller hippocampal volume in adolescents at high risk for depression suggests that it may be a vulnerability marker for the illness. Early-life adversity may interact with genetic vulnerability to induce hippocampal changes, potentially increasing the risk for depressive disorder.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.