Anxiety and depressive symptoms may predispose individuals to sleep disturbance. Understanding how these emotional symptoms affect sleep quality, especially the underlying neural basis, could support the development of effective treatment. The aims of the present study were therefore to investigate potential changes in brain morphometry associated with poor sleep quality and whether this structure played a mediating role between the emotional symptoms and sleep quality. One hundred and forty-one healthy adults (69 women, mean age = 26.06 years, SD = 6.36 years) were recruited. A structural magnetic resonance imaging investigation was performed, and self-reported measures of anxiety, depressive symptoms and sleep quality were obtained for each participant. Whole-brain regression analysis revealed that worse sleep quality was associated with thinner cortex in left superior temporal sulcus (STS). Furthermore, the thickness of left STS mediated the association between the emotional symptoms and sleep quality. A subsequent commonality analysis showed that physiological component of the depressive symptoms had the greatest influence on sleep quality. In conclusion, thinner cortex in left STS may represent a neural substrate for the association between anxiety and depressive symptoms and poor sleep quality and may thus serve as a potential target for neuromodulatory treatment of sleep problems.

中文翻译：

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左颞上沟形态测量介导焦虑和抑郁症状对健康成人睡眠质量的影响


焦虑和抑郁症状可能会使人容易出现睡眠障碍。了解这些情绪症状如何影响睡眠质量，尤其是潜在的神经基础，可以支持有效治疗的开发。因此，本研究的目的是调查与睡眠质量差相关的大脑形态测量的潜在变化，以及这种结构是否在情绪症状和睡眠质量之间发挥中介作用。招募了 141 名健康成年人（69 名女性，平均年龄 = 26.06 岁，SD = 6.36 岁）。进行了结构磁共振成像研究，并获得了每位参与者自我报告的焦虑、抑郁症状和睡眠质量的测量结果。全脑回归分析显示，睡眠质量较差与左颞上沟（STS）皮质较薄有关。此外，左侧STS的厚度介导情绪症状与睡眠质量之间的关联。随后的共性分析表明，抑郁症状的生理成分对睡眠质量影响最大。总之，左侧 STS 中较薄的皮质可能代表焦虑和抑郁症状与睡眠质量差之间关联的神经基础，因此可能作为睡眠问题的神经调节治疗的潜在目标。