Fibromyalgia patients have reduced hippocampal volume compared with healthy controls

Christina S McCrae,1 Andrew M O’Shea,1 Jeff Boissoneault,2 Karlyn E Vatthauer,1 Michael E Robinson,1,2 Roland Staud,2,3 William M Perlstein,4–7 Jason G Craggs1 1Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, 2Pain Research and Intervention Center of Excellence, 3College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA; 4McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA; 5Department of Psychiatry, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 6Malcom Randall Veterans Administration Medical Center, Gainesville, FL, 7Rehabilitation Research and Development Brain Research Center of Excellence, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Gainesville, FL, USA Objective: Fibromyalgia patients frequently report cognitive abnormalities. As the hippocampus plays an important role in learning and memory, we determined whether individuals with fibromyalgia had smaller hippocampal volume compared with healthy control participants.Methods: T1-weighted structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were acquired from 40 female participants with fibromyalgia and 22 female healthy controls. The volume of the hippocampus was estimated using the software FreeSurfer. An analysis of covariance model controlling for potentially confounding factors of age, whole brain size, MRI signal quality, and Beck Depression Inventory scores were used to determine significant group differences.Results: Fibromyalgia participants had significantly smaller hippocampi in both left (F[1,56]=4.55, P=0.037, η2p=0.08) and right hemispheres (F[1,56]=5.89, P=0.019, η2p =0.10). No significant effect of depression was observed in either left or right hemisphere hippocampal volume (P=0.813 and P=0.811, respectively).Discussion: Potential mechanisms for reduced hippocampal volume in fibromyalgia include abnormal glutamate excitatory neurotransmission and glucocorticoid dysfunction; these factors can lead to neuronal atrophy, through excitotoxicity, and disrupt neurogenesis in the hippocampus. Hippocampal atrophy may play a role in memory and cognitive complaints among fibromyalgia patients. Keywords: hippocampus, MRI, brain atrophy, pain