Childhood Maltreatment and Amygdala Response to Interpersonal Threat in a Transdiagnostic Adult Sample: The Role of Trait Dissociation.

BACKGROUND: Childhood maltreatment (CM) confers risk for different mental disorders as well as transdiagnostic symptoms such as dissociation. Aberrant amygdala response to interpersonal threat may link CM to transdiagnostic psychopathology and has recently been shown to depend on type and developmental timing of CM experiences. Still, most studies on CM and threat-related amygdala response employ categorical disorder-specific perspectives and fail to consider type and timing of CM exposure. We aimed to investigate associations between CM, amygdala response to interpersonal threat, and dimensional psychopathological symptoms including trait dissociation in a transdiagnostic adult sample, specifically considering type, timing, and duration of CM. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional neuroimaging study in 141 participants with varying levels of CM, including mostly female participants with major depressive disorder (n = 36), posttraumatic stress disorder (n = 34), and somatic symptom disorder (n = 35) and healthy volunteers (n = 36). Participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging during an emotional face-matching task, completed the brief German interview version of the Maltreatment and Abuse Chronology of Exposure scale, and answered self-report measures of transdiagnostic CM-related symptoms including trait dissociation. Data were analyzed using a machine learning-based model comparison procedure. RESULTS: In our transdiagnostic sample, neither type nor timing or duration of CM predicted amygdala response to interpersonal threat. Instead, trait dissociation predicted blunted bilateral amygdala response and emerged as a possible mediator between CM and amygdala function. CONCLUSIONS: Trait dissociation may be an important confounder in the widely documented association between CM and threat-related amygdala response, which should be considered in future longitudinal studies.

Assessing visuo-constructive functions in patients with subjective cognitive decline, mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease with the Vienna Visuo-Constructional Test 3.0 (VVT 3.0).

BACKGROUND: Visuo-Constructive functions have considerable potential for the early diagnosis and monitoring of disease progression in Alzheimer's disease. OBJECTIVES: Using the Vienna Visuo-Constructional Test 3.0 (VVT 3.0), we measured visuo-constructive functions in subjective cognitive decline (SCD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and healthy controls to determine whether VVT performance can be used to distinguish these groups. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data of 671 participants was analyzed comparing scores across diagnostic groups and exploring associations with relevant clinical variables. Predictive validity was assessed using Receiver Operator Characteristic curves and multinomial logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: We found significant differences between AD and the other groups. Identification of cases suffering from visuo-constructive impairment was possible using VVT scores, but these did not permit classification into diagnostic subgroups. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, VVT scores are useful indicators for visuo-constructive impairment but face challenges when attempting to discriminate between several diagnostic groups.

Screening for dementia with the Vienna Visuo-Constructional Test 3.0 screening (VVT 3.0 screening).

BACKGROUND: Visuo-constructive functions are an important cognitive domain for the diagnosis and early detection of dementia. Using the Vienna Visuo-Constructional Test 3.0 Screening (VVT 3.0 Screening), we assessed visuo-constructive performance in subjective cognitive decline (SCD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and healthy control (HC) groups to determine whether VVT scores can be used to distinguish the mentioned diagnostic groups and predict disease progression to more advanced stages. METHODS: We analyzed the data of 422 patients referred to the Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, for assessment of neurocognitive status. We also examined 110 of these patients in a follow-up with regard to stability of performance and disease progression. We compared VVT performance across diagnostic groups and explored associations with relevant sociodemographic and clinical variables. Predictive validity was assessed using receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves and multinomial logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: We found that most diagnostic groups differed significantly regarding VVT scores. These were shown to reliably identify cases suffering from visuo-constructive impairment but were not sufficient for classification into all diagnostic groups. Progression to more advanced disease stages could not be reliably predicted using VVT scores, possibly because subsamples of progressors were quite small. CONCLUSION: VVT scores are useful indicators for identifying visuo-constructive impairment but are limited by factors such as similar disease manifestations when used to discriminate between several diagnostic groups. The same factors complicate the use of VVT scores for predicting disease progression to more advanced stages.

Alexithymia and autistic traits as possible predictors for traits related to depression, anxiety, and stress: A multivariate statistical approach.

RATIONALE, AIMS, AND OBJECTIVES: Our study focused on the general population and explored the relationships between autistic traits and alexithymia, on the one hand, and traits related to depression, anxiety, and stress, on the other, using a multivariate statistical approach. In previous research, autistic traits and alexithymia have been linked to these traits both in clinical populations and in the general population. We also investigated a possible multiplicative effect of autistic traits and alexithymia and attempted to determine which of these two variables is the better predictor for health outcomes. METHODS: An online survey was conducted, and 302 participants were included in the statistical analysis. A structural equation modelling approach was chosen, and a model based on prior findings was designed and tested by using IBM SPSS AMOS 21. RESULTS: The results showed significant, medium-sized effects of alexithymia on depression, anxiety, and stress. Additionally, a medium-sized significant effect of autistic traits on depression, a small significant effect on stress, and a small nonsignificant effect on anxiety were found. The interaction term of alexithymia and autistic traits had no significant effects on any of the endogenous variables. CONCLUSIONS: Alexithymia can be considered the better predictor for anxiety in this sample, and it is unlikely that a multiplicative effect of alexithymia and autistic traits exists. The use of multivariate statistical methods provided additional information for understanding the investigated constructs and their interdependence.