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Patients with COPD show signs of decreased brain matter volume

Patients with COPD had decreased gray matter volume in anterior, mid, and posterior cingulate cortex, hippocampus and amygdala in the absence of generalized cortical degeneration, according to study results.

The affected brain areas are involved in the processing of dyspnea, fear and antinociception.

Roland W. Esser, from the department of systems neuroscience at University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in Germany, and colleagues used voxel-based morphometric analysis of MRI images to measure differences in cortical degeneration and regional gray matter in 30 patients with moderate to severe COPD and 30 matched healthy controls.

The study aimed to investigate structural brain changes in patients with COPD and their connection with disease duration, fear of dyspnea and of physical activity.

Patients with COPD had a much lower forced expiratory volume in 1 second percent predicted (49.7) and forced vital capacity percent predicted (95.7) compared with patients without COPD (121.5, 125.8; P < .001 for both).

Patients with COPD also had a higher rating of fear (5.8 vs. 2.2, P < .001) and dyspnea (3.2 vs. 1.1, P < .001) than controls, according to results from the COPD Anxiety Questionnaire.

Researchers reported brain analysis indicated that compared with controls, gray matter volume in patients with COPD decreased in posterior cingulate cortex (P = .315).

The researchers also noted reductions in gray matter volume in patients in their midcingulate cortex (P = .12), anterior cingulate cortex (P = .042), hippocampus (P = .021) and amygdala (P = .037).

Analysis revealed that the relation between disease duration and reduced gray matter in the anterior cingulate happened to be mediated by fear of physical activity.

The researchers stressed the need for future research.

“Future studies including longitudinal designs and objective measures of physical activity such as activity monitors are warranted to gain further insights into the dynamics of gray matter volume changes in relation to activity avoidance in COPD,” the researchers wrote. – by Ryan McDonald

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.