ArticleTranslational psychiatry2021
Cortical and subcortical brain structure in generalized anxiety disorder: findings from 28 research sites in the ENIGMA-Anxiety Working Group.
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In one paragraph
Article in Translational psychiatry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
0numbers the graph read from it
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39citing papers in PubMed, 6 pooled it
5.1field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 68 citations in OpenAlex.
- Genome-wide association study of major anxiety disorders in 122,341 European-ancestry cases identifies 58 loci and highlights GABAergic signaling.Nature genetics · 2026Pooled it
- Transdiagnostic reduction in cortical choline-containing compounds in anxiety disorders: aMolecular psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Cortical and Subcortical Brain Alterations in Specific Phobia and Its Animal and Blood-Injection-Injury Subtypes: A Mega-Analysis From the ENIGMA Anxiety Working Group.The American journal of psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Abnormal neural activation during negative emotion processing in anxiety disorders: a coordinate-based meta-analysis.CNS spectrums · 2024Pooled it
- Grey matter structural alterations in anxiety disorders: a voxel-based meta-analysis.Brain imaging and behavior · 2024Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of resting-state fMRI in anxiety disorders: Need for data sharing to move the field forward.Journal of anxiety disorders · 2023Pooled it
- Influence of sex and systemic lupus erythematosus disease status on cerebral cortex structure.Lupus science & medicine · 2026Trial
- Differential cerebral white matter tract alterations in generalized anxiety disorder revealed by ultra-high-field 7 T diffusion-weighted imaging.Journal of affective disorders · 2026Article
- Regional, functional and transcriptomic decoding of multidimensional brain structure alterations in obsessive-compulsive disorder.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Multimodal phenotypic classification of generalized anxiety and panic using structural MRI data and psychosocial factors: machine learning results from the German National Cohort (NAKO) study.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Brain age prediction in generalized anxiety disorder using a convolutional neural network.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Structural brain differences associated with panic disorder: an ENIGMA-Anxiety Working Group mega-analysis of 4924 individuals worldwide.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Longitudinal Changes in Infant Attention-Related Brain Networks and Fearful Temperament.Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging · 2026Article
- Structural Brain Correlates of Childhood Inhibited Temperament: An ENIGMA-Anxiety Mega-Analysis.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry · 2026Article
- Understanding the brain mechanisms behind anxiety disorders in late life: progress and limitations of the past 15 years.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Differential Cerebral White Matter Tract Alterations in Generalized Anxiety Disorder Revealed by Ultra-High Field 7T Diffusion-Weighted Imaging.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Differential role of anterior and posterior pituitary lobes in healthy aging and perceived stress.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Association between anxiety disorder, anxiolytic drugs, and risk of incident Parkinson's disease.NPJ Parkinson's disease · 2025Article
- Analysis of Factors Affecting Quality in Structural Magnetic Resonance Images.Human brain mapping · 2025Article
- Beyond out-of-sample: robust and generalizable multivariate neuroanatomical patterns of psychiatric problems in youth.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
94 authors at 20 institutions in 10 countries.
Anita HarrewijnEmotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA. anita.harrewijn@nih.gov.ORCID 0000-0001-9938-4048
Elise M CardinaleEmotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Nynke A GroenewoldDepartment of Psychiatry & Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
Janna Marie Bas-HoogendamDepartment of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0001-8982-1670
Moji AghajaniDepartment of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, location VUMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Kevin HilbertDepartment of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-7986-4113
Narcis CardonerDepartment of Mental Health, University Hospital Parc Taulí-I3PT, Barcelona, Spain.ORCID 0000-0001-9633-0888
Daniel Porta-CasteràsDepartment of Mental Health, University Hospital Parc Taulí-I3PT, Barcelona, Spain.ORCID 0000-0002-3921-3607
Savannah GosnellMenninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
Ramiro SalasMenninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-1105-566X
Andrea P JackowskiLiNC, Department of Psychiatry, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.ORCID 0000-0001-8842-5406
Pedro M PanLiNC, Department of Psychiatry, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Giovanni A SalumSection on Negative Affect and Social Processes, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Karina S BlairCenter for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA.
James R BlairCenter for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA.
Mira Z HammoudDepartment of Psychiatry, NYU School of Medicine, New York University, New York, NY, USA.
Mohammed R MiladDepartment of Psychiatry, NYU School of Medicine, New York University, New York, NY, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-8620-5132
Katie L BurkhouseDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
K Luan PhanDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
Heidi K SchroederDepartment of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
Jeffrey R StrawnDepartment of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
Katja Beesdo-BaumBehavioral Epidemiology, Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
Neda JahanshadImaging Genetics Center, Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Marina del Rey, CA, USA.
Sophia I ThomopoulosImaging Genetics Center, Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Marina del Rey, CA, USA.
Randy BucknerCenter for Brain Science & Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-6422-8037
Jared A NielsenCenter for Brain Science & Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-2717-193X
Jordan W SmollerDepartment of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-0381-6334
Jair C SoaresCenter Of Excellence On Mood Disorders, Louis A. Faillace, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-5466-5628
Benson MwangiCenter Of Excellence On Mood Disorders, Louis A. Faillace, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
Mon-Ju WuCenter Of Excellence On Mood Disorders, Louis A. Faillace, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-0540-8027
Giovana B Zunta-SoaresCenter Of Excellence On Mood Disorders, Louis A. Faillace, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
Michal AssafOlin Neuropsychiatry Research Center, Institute of Living, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, CT, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-5307-1986
Gretchen J DiefenbachDepartment of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
Paolo BrambillaDepartment of Neurosciences and Mental Health, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-4021-8456
Eleonora MaggioniDepartment of Neurosciences and Mental Health, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy.
David HofmannInstitute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany.
Thomas StraubeInstitute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany.
Carmen AndreescuDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Rachel BertaDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Erica TamburoDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Rebecca B PriceDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Gisele G ManfroAnxiety Disorder Program, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Department of Psychiatry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.ORCID 0000-0002-0109-7591
Federica AgostaNeuroimaging Research Unit, Institute of Experimental Neurology, Division of Neuroscience, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy.
Elisa CanuNeuroimaging Research Unit, Institute of Experimental Neurology, Division of Neuroscience, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy.
Camilla CividiniNeuroimaging Research Unit, Institute of Experimental Neurology, Division of Neuroscience, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy.
Massimo FilippiNeuroimaging Research Unit, Institute of Experimental Neurology, Division of Neuroscience, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-5485-0479
Milutin KostićInstitute of Mental Health, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
Ana Munjiza JovanovicInstitute of Mental Health, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
Bianca A V AlbertonGraduate Program in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, Puerto Rico, Brazil.
Brenda BensonEmotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Gabrielle F FreitagEmotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Courtney A FilippiEmotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Andrea L GoldDepartment of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University Warren Alpert Medical School, Providence, RI, USA.
Ellen LeibenluftEmotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Grace V RingleinEmotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Kathryn E WerwathEmotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Hannah ZwiebelEmotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
André ZugmanEmotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-6126-7759
Hans J GrabeDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
Sandra Van der AuweraDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
Katharina WittfeldDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.ORCID 0000-0003-4383-5043
Henry VölzkeInstitute for Community Medicine, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
Robin BülowInstitute for Diagnostic Radiology and Neuroradiology, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
Nicholas L BalderstonCenter for Neuromodulation in Depression and Stress, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-8565-1544
Monique ErnstSection on Neurobiology of Fear and Anxiety, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Christian GrillonSection on Neurobiology of Fear and Anxiety, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Lilianne R Mujica-ParodiDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-3752-5519
Helena van NieuwenhuizenDepartment of Physics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA.
Hugo D CritchleyDepartment of Neuroscience, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-2445-9284
Elena MakovacCentre for Neuroimaging Science, Kings College London, London, UK.
Matteo ManciniDepartment of Neuroscience, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.
Frances MeetenSchool of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.
Cristina OttavianiDepartment of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-5240-4387
Tali M BallPsychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
Gregory A FonzoDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School, Austin, TX, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-0213-1034
Martin P PaulusLaureate Institute for Brain Research, Tulsa, OK, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-0825-3606
Murray B SteinDepartment of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-9564-2871
Raquel E GurDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Ruben C GurDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Antonia N KaczkurkinDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-0943-3094
Bart LarsenDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Theodore D SatterthwaiteDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-7072-9399
Jennifer HarperDepartment of Psychiatry, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Michael MyersDepartment of Psychiatry, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Michael T PerinoDepartment of Psychiatry, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Chad M SylvesterDepartment of Psychiatry, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Qiongru YuDepartment of Psychiatry, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Ulrike LuekenDepartment of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Dick J VeltmanDepartment of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, location VUMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Paul M ThompsonImaging Genetics Center, Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Marina del Rey, CA, USA.
Dan J SteinSouth African Medical Research Council Unit on Risk & Resilience in Mental Disorders, Department of Psychiatry & Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.ORCID 0000-0001-7218-7810
Nic J A Van der WeeDepartment of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Anderson M Winkler *Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Daniel S Pine *Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
National Institute of Mental Health · USUniversity of Pennsylvania · USUniversitätsmedizin Greifswald · DEWashington University in St. Louis · USThe University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston · USUniversity of Pittsburgh · USUniversity of Southern California · USVita-Salute San Raffaele University · ITBaylor College of Medicine · USBoys Town · USBrighton and Sussex Medical School · GBHartford Hospital · USHumboldt-Universität zu Berlin · DENew York University · USStony Brook University · USUniversidade Federal de São Paulo · BRUniversidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul · BRUniversitat Autònoma de Barcelona · ESUniversity of Belgrade · RSUniversity of Cincinnati · US
Funding
ABCD-USA Consortium: Coordinating CenterU24DA041147 · NIDA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · PI SANDRA A BROWN, TERRY L. JERNIGAN · 2015 to 2026
$54.7MABCD-USA Consortium: Data Analysis, Informatics and Resource CenterU24DA041123 · NIDA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · PI ANDERS M DALE · 2015 to 2026
$51.5MAdolescent Substance Use Initiation: Disentangling neurocognitive risks from consequences using longitudinal and genetically-informed methodsU01DA041120 · NIDA · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · PI Monica Luciana, Sylia Wilson · 2015 to 2026
$34.5MABCD-USA Consortium: Research ProjectU01DA041089 · NIDA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · PI Joanna Jacobus, Susan F. Tapert · 2015 to 2026
$31.7MProspective Research Studies of Maturation (PRISM)- Research ProjectU01DA041134 · NIDA · UTAH STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH · PI ERIN MCGLADE, PERRY FRANKLIN RENSHAW · 2015 to 2026
$29.2MThe Psychophysiology Of Fear And AnxietyZIAMH002798 · NIMH · NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH · PI GRILLON, CHRISTIAN · 2009 to 2022
$29.0MABCD-USA CONSORTIUM: RESEARCH PROJECTU01DA041048 · NIDA · CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF LOS ANGELES · PI Megan Marie Herting, ELIZABETH R SOWELL · 2015 to 2026
$28.7MFmri Studies Of Risk For Mood And Anxiety Disorders In ChildrenZIAMH002782 · NIMH · NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH · PI PINE, DANIEL · 2009 to 2025
$28.3MABCD-USA Consortium: Research ProjectU01DA041106 · NIDA · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · PI Mary M Heitzeg, Chandra Sekhar Sripada · 2015 to 2026
$24.9MFIU-ABCD: Pathways and Mechanisms to Addiction in the Latino Youth of South FloridaU01DA041156 · NIDA · FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY · PI Raul Gonzalez, Angela R Laird · 2015 to 2026
$22.8MABCD-USA Consortium: Research ProjectU01DA041148 · NIDA · OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY · PI Damien A Fair, Rebekah S Huber · 2015 to 2026
$22.3MABCD-USA: NYC Research ProjectU01DA041174 · NIDA · YALE UNIVERSITY · PI Arielle Ryan Baskin-Sommers, Betty J Casey · 2015 to 2026
$19.7MCSRD VA I01 CX000994Intramural NIH HHS ZIA MH002782Intramural NIH HHS ZIA MH002798NIA NIH HHS R56 AG058854NIBIB NIH HHS U54 EB020403NICHD NIH HHS K99 HD105002NICHD NIH HHS R00 HD105002NIDA NIH HHS U01 DA041022NIDA NIH HHS U01 DA041025NIDA NIH HHS U01 DA041028NIDA NIH HHS U01 DA041048NIDA NIH HHS U01 DA041089NIDA NIH HHS U01 DA041093NIDA NIH HHS U01 DA041106NIDA NIH HHS U01 DA041117NIDA NIH HHS U01 DA041120NIDA NIH HHS U01 DA041134NIDA NIH HHS U01 DA041148NIDA NIH HHS U01 DA041156NIDA NIH HHS U01 DA041174NIDA NIH HHS U24 DA041123NIDA NIH HHS U24 DA041147NIMH NIH HHS K23 MH086686NIMH NIH HHS K23 MH100259NIMH NIH HHS K23 MH109983NIMH NIH HHS K23 MH114023NIMH NIH HHS K24 MH064122NIMH NIH HHS K99 MH117274NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH065413NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH101486NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH101497NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH108509NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH116147NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH117601NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH122389NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH129832NIMH NIH HHS T32 MH014654NIMH NIH HHS T32 MH100019
Abstract
The goal of this study was to compare brain structure between individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and healthy controls. Previous studies have generated inconsistent findings, possibly due to small sample sizes, or clinical/analytic heterogeneity. To address these concerns, we combined data from 28 research sites worldwide through the ENIGMA-Anxiety Working Group, using a single, pre-registered mega-analysis. Structural magnetic resonance imaging data from children and adults (5-90 years) were processed using FreeSurfer. The main analysis included the regional and vertex-wise cortical thickness, cortical surface area, and subcortical volume as dependent variables, and GAD, age, age-squared, sex, and their interactions as independent variables. Nuisance variables included IQ, years of education, medication use, comorbidities, and global brain measures. The main analysis (1020 individuals with GAD and 2999 healthy controls) included random slopes per site and random intercepts per scanner. A secondary analysis (1112 individuals with GAD and 3282 healthy controls) included fixed slopes and random intercepts per scanner with the same variables. The main analysis showed no effect of GAD on brain structure, nor interactions involving GAD, age, or sex. The secondary analysis showed increased volume in the right ventral diencephalon in male individuals with GAD compared to male healthy controls, whereas female individuals with GAD did not differ from female healthy controls. This mega-analysis combining worldwide data showed that differences in brain structure related to GAD are small, possibly reflecting heterogeneity or those structural alterations are not a major component of its pathophysiology.
Indexed as
Anxiety DisordersBrainAdultAnxietyChildFemaleHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMale
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