Tumor location is associated with mood dysfunction in patients with diffuse glioma

Gliomas are primary brain tumors that can cause neuropsychiatric symptoms, including severe depressive symptoms (SDS; in 14%) and an absence of depressive symptoms (ADS; in 29%), determined by Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scores. We examined the association between both SDS and ADS and brain tumor location in 201 patients with diffuse glioma before surgery. Tumors and white matter disconnectomes did not relate to CES-D using sparse canonical correlation analysis. SDS were associated with tumors in the right corticospinal tract, fornix, and inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and the left uncinate fasciculus, whereas ADS was associated with tumors in the left uncinate fasciculus and first segment of the superior longitudinal fasciculus and the right temporal cingulum and thalamus using Bayesian regression analyses. ADS occurs even more frequently in patients with diffuse glioma than does SDS, which is explained partly by tumor location. This research aids the understanding of gliomas and mood dysfunction in general. The authors report how the anatomical location of diffuse gliomas is related to the occurrence of severe depressive symptoms or the absence of depressive symptoms.