Late-life depression has been associated with volume changes of the hippocampus. However, little is known about its association with specific hippocampal subfields over time.

We investigated whether hippocampal subfield volumes were associated with prevalence, course and incidence of depressive symptoms.

We extracted 12 hippocampal subfield volumes per hemisphere with FreeSurfer v6.0 using T1-weighted and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery 3T magnetic resonance images. Depressive symptoms were assessed at baseline and annually over 7 years of follow-up (9-item Patient Health Questionnaire). We used negative binominal, logistic, and Cox regression analyses, corrected for multiple comparisons, and adjusted for demographic, cardiovascular and lifestyle factors.

A total of n = 4174 participants were included (mean age 60.0 years, s.d. = 8.6, 51.8% female). Larger right hippocampal fissure volume was associated with prevalent depressive symptoms (odds ratio (OR) = 1.26, 95% CI 1.08–1.48). Larger bilateral hippocampal fissure (OR = 1.37–1.40, 95% CI 1.14–1.71), larger right molecular layer (OR = 1.51, 95% CI 1.14–2.00) and smaller right cornu ammonis (CA)3 volumes (OR = 0.61, 95% CI 0.48–0.79) were associated with prevalent depressive symptoms with a chronic course. No associations of hippocampal subfield volumes with incident depressive symptoms were found. Yet, lower left hippocampal amygdala transition area (HATA) volume was associated with incident depressive symptoms with chronic course (hazard ratio = 0.70, 95% CI 0.55–0.89).

Differences in hippocampal fissure, molecular layer and CA volumes might co-occur or follow the onset of depressive symptoms, in particular with a chronic course. Smaller HATA was associated with an increased risk of incident (chronic) depression. Our results could capture a biological foundation for the development of chronic depressive symptoms, and stresses the need to discriminate subtypes of depression to unravel its biological underpinnings.

晚年抑郁症与海马体体积变化有关。然而，随着时间的推移，人们对它与特定海马亚区的关系知之甚少。

我们调查了海马亚区体积是否与抑郁症状的患病率、病程和发生率相关。

我们使用 FreeSurfer v6.0 使用T 1加权和流体衰减反转恢复 3T 磁共振图像提取每个半球 12 个海马子场体积。在基线和 7 年随访期间每年评估抑郁症状（9 项患者健康问卷）。我们使用负二项式、Logistic 和 Cox 回归分析，对多重比较进行校正，并根据人口、心血管和生活方式因素进行调整。

共有n = 4174 名参与者（平均年龄 60.0 岁，标准差 = 8.6，51.8% 为女性）。较大的右侧海马裂体积与普遍的抑郁症状相关（比值比 (OR) = 1.26，95% CI 1.08–1.48）。双侧海马裂较大（OR = 1.37–1.40，95% CI 1.14–1.71），右侧分子层较大（OR = 1.51，95% CI 1.14–2.00），右角氨 (CA)3 体积较小（OR = 0.61， 95% CI (0.48–0.79) 与慢性病程的普遍抑郁症状相关。没有发现海马亚区体积与抑郁症状的关联。然而，左下海马杏仁核过渡区（HATA）体积与慢性病程的抑郁症状相关（风险比 = 0.70，95% CI 0.55-0.89）。

海马裂、分子层和 CA 体积的差异可能同时出现或在抑郁症状发作后出现，尤其是慢性病程。较小的 HATA 与发生（慢性）抑郁症的风险增加相关。我们的结果可以为慢性抑郁症状的发展提供生物学基础，并强调需要区分抑郁症的亚型以揭示其生物学基础。