Major Depressive Disorder in Youth and Adults: A Quantitative Whole-Brain Meta-Analysis of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Studies.
Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging January 13, 2026 Caitlin Baten, Gladys Zamora, Amanda M Klassen et al.
A meta-analysis of 135 fMRI studies involving 6,391 participants found that youth and adults with major depressive disorder (MDD) show different patterns of brain activation during tasks. Compared to adults with MDD, youth with MDD had distinct activation differences in the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). After controlling for illness duration, youth showed less activation than adults with shorter-duration MDD in regions like the sgACC. Among adults, those with longer-duration MDD showed less activation in the dlPFC compared to those with shorter-duration MDD. These results suggest that both age and length of illness matter for understanding brain changes in depression.