Pre-stress functional brain connectivity is associated with subsequent anxiety during war-related stress

Lower resting-state functional connectivity between the right nucleus accumbens and right amygdala predicts greater subsequent anxiety during ongoing war-related stress in a cohort of 31 adults.

• Why it matters: Real-world stress produces diverse psychological outcomes, but it is unclear whether pre-existing brain connectivity differences help explain who develops more anxiety.
• What they did: Resting-state fMRI was collected in healthy adults before unforeseen war-related stress, and about 13 months later (n = 31) anxiety was measured during ongoing stress across 144 connectivity–outcome associations.
• The result: The right nucleus accumbens–right amygdala connectivity–anxiety link remained significant after permutation-based family-wise error correction and after adjusting for baseline depressive symptoms, age, and sex, supporting preliminary prospective evidence.

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