Greater Stress Response Network (SRN) Connectivity is Associated with Higher Worry in Men and Women Especially in Later Life

In 131 adults aged 50+ with varying worry severity, greater Stress Response Network connectivity is linked to higher PSWQ worry, with SRN-ECN connectivity showing no such association.

• Why it matters: Late-life anxiety and pathological worry vary across individuals, and the study tests whether threat/stress circuitry connectivity relates to worry severity beyond executive network interactions.
• What they did: Resting-state fMRI quantified SRN connectivity (amygdala, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, paraventricular nucleus) and SRN-ECN connectivity, and regression models related these measures to PSWQ, HARS, and RSQ while adjusting for age, sex, race, and education.
• The result: SRN connectivity predicted greater worry (B=23.51, SE=12.12, p<0.05) but was lower with greater age (B=-0.003, SE=0.001, p=0.04), while SRN-ECN connectivity was not significantly associated with worry.

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