The British Journal of Psychiatry (2008) 192: 472-473. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.107.040378
© 2008 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
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SHORT REPORTS

Hippocampal volume and 2-year outcome in depression

Klaus-Thomas Kronmüller, MD

Department of Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg

Johannes Pantel, MD

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Frankfurt

Sebastian Köhler, MD and Daniela Victor, PhD

Department of Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg

Frederik Giesel, MD

Department of Radiology, German Cancer Research Centre, Heidelberg

Vincent A. Magnotta, PhD

Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa

Christoph Mundt, MD

Department of Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg

Marco Essig, MD

Department of Radiology, German Cancer Research Centre, Heidelberg

Johannes Schröder, MD

Department of Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg

Correspondence: Klaus-Thomas Kronmüller, Department of Psychiatry, University of Heidelberg, Voßstraße 4, Heidelberg 69115, Germany. Email: klaus_kronmueller{at}med.uni-heidelberg.de

Declaration of interest

None.

Although the hippocampus has been found to be smaller in people with depression, the clinical relevance of this is unclear. We investigated hippocampal volume (using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging) and 2-year outcome in 57 patients with major depression. The left and right hippocampal volumes of patients with a depression relapse were significantly smaller than those of healthy controls. Our results support the hypothesis that the hippocampus is crucial in the outcome of depression.