Childhood maltreatment-related cortical structural differences between treatment-naïve early adults with major depressive disorder and healthy controls

Objectives

Childhood maltreatment (CM) is a known risk factor for major depressive disorder (MDD) and significantly impacts brain structure, although it is noteworthy that some trauma-exposed individuals do not subsequently develop clinical depression. This study investigates the interaction effects of CM and MDD on morphology of cerebral cortex in early adults.

Methods

This study employed a 2 (MDD vs. Healthy controls) × 2 (CM: Yes vs. No) with vertex-wise general linear models to investigate differential neuroanatomical effects of CM on cortical morphology across diagnostic groups. Complementary region-of-interest (ROI) analyses focused on the medial prefrontal cortex given its established role in emotional stress processing and regulation.

Results

Whole-brain vertex-wise analysis revealed that in the MDD group, individuals with a history of CM exhibited significantly reduced bilateral precuneus volume and left cuneus thickness compared to those without CM. Conversely, in the HC group, individuals with CM showed increased bilateral precuneus cortical volume and left cuneus thickness. ROI analysis showed CM-exposed HC had greater cACC thickness, whereas MDD patients exhibited reduced trends. In the HC group, significant positive correlations emerged between left cuneus thickness and physical neglect, left precuneus volume and emotional neglect, and right precuneus volume and sexual abuse. In the MDD group, a significant negative correlation was found between right precuneus volume and disease course.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that CM induces cortical abnormalities in individuals with MDD, whereas HC may demonstrate neuroadaptive responses to early adversity, identifying potential neurobiological markers of vulnerability or resilience to MDD following CM.