The association of white matter connectivity with prevalence, incidence and course of depressive symptoms: The Maastricht Study.

Background: Altered white matter brain connectivity has been linked to depression. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of markers of white matter connectivity with prevalence, incidence and course of depressive symptoms.

Methods: Markers of white matter connectivity (node degree, clustering coefficient, local efficiency, characteristic path length, and global efficiency) were assessed at baseline by 3 T MRI in the population-based Maastricht Study ( = 4866; mean ± standard deviation age 59.