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The following is a summary of “Brain and cardiovascular responses to acute stress in remitted and recurrent late-life depression,” published in the February 2025 issue of Neuropsychopharmacology by Kraynak et al.
Stress exposure increases recurrence risk in remitted late-life depression (LLD). Variability in this effect may reflect underlying brain and physiological processes.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to assess how stress responses differ in older adults with and without remitted depression and their link to relapse risk.
They recruited participants from three sites, including 76 older adults with remitted LLD and 36 age-matched healthy comparison (HC) adults. They completed an acute stressor task with behavioral and cardiovascular monitoring during functional brain imaging. They followed remitted LLD participants longitudinally to assess depression recurrence.
The results showed that the remitted LLD group had reduced stressor-evoked systolic blood pressure, heart rate responses, and posterior insula activity compared to HC. This blunted response was more specific to stable remitters than relapsing LLD. Survival analyses showed greater bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) activity was linked to faster recurrence.
Investigators found blunted stressor-evoked cardiovascular and brain reactivity in remitted LLD and linked visceral interoceptive brain circuits to relapse risk. They suggested longer follow-ups may identify additional stress-related predictors of recurrence.
Source: nature.com/articles/s41386-025-02057-8
