Observations on dynamic brain network properties of emotional information processing in patients with depression and sex differences

Table 1 Demographic characteristics of the study participants, mean ± SD/n (%)

Groups	Age	BMI (kg/m2)	HAMD-17	Course of the disease (months)	History of substance abuse, yes/no	Years of education, high school/≥ high school
Control group (n = 30)	39.30 ± 10.90	22.08 ± 2.78	3.03 ± 1.67	-	5 (16.67)/25 (83.33)	17 (56.67)/13 (43.33)
Depression group (n = 90)	38.07 ± 9.83	21.19 ± 2.85	27.00 ± 4.85	19.01 ± 8.44	25 (27.78)/65 (72.22)	61 (67.78)/29 (32.22)
t	0.579	1.479	26.504	-	1.481	1.221
P value	0.564	0.142	< 0.001	-	0.224	0.269

BMI: Body mass index; HAMD-17: Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-17 items.

Table 2 Differences in demographic and clinical characteristics between male and female patients with depression, mean ± SD/n (%)

Subgroup	Age	BMI (kg/m2)	HAMD-17	Course of the disease (months)	History of substance abuse, yes/no	Years of education, high school/≥ high school
Men (n = 45)	37.22 ± 9.31	21.94 ± 2.95	25.89 ± 4.51	19.71 ± 8.69	17 (37.78)/28 (62.22)	32 (71.11)/13 (28.89)
Women (n = 45)	38.91 ± 10.36	20.44 ± 2.57	28.11 ± 4.96	18.31 ± 8.22	8 (17.78)/37 (82.22)	29 (64.44)/16 (35.56)
t	0.813	2.564	2.223	0.785	4.486	0.458
P value	0.418	0.012	0.029	0.435	0.034	0.499

BMI: Body mass index; HAMD-17: Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-17 items.

Table 3 Comparison of global network topology properties, mean ± SD

Groups	GE	LE	CC	σ
Control group (n = 30)	0.49 ± 0.04	0.42 ± 0.04	0.39 ± 0.02	2.08 ± 0.12
Depression group (n = 90)	0.42 ± 0.05	0.37 ± 0.05	0.35 ± 0.05	1.86 ± 0.16
t	7.078	4.712	3.493	7.006
P value	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001

GE: Global efficiency; LE: Local efficiency; CC: Clustering coefficient; σ: Small-worldness.

Table 4 Differences in global network topology properties between male and female patients with depression, mean ± SD

Subgroup	GE	LE	CC	σ
Men (n = 45)	0.44 ± 0.05	0.38 ± 0.04	0.36 ± 0.04	1.78 ± 0.10
Women (n = 45)	0.40 ± 0.04	0.37 ± 0.05	0.35 ± 0.06	1.94 ± 0.16
t	3.448	1.624	1.046	5.374
P value	< 0.001	0.108	0.299	< 0.001

GE: Global efficiency; LE: Local efficiency; CC: Clustering coefficient; σ: Small-worldness.

Table 5 Comparison of network modularity characteristics, mean ± SD

Groups	N_mod	CV_size	W_in	W_out
Control group (n = 30)	5.86 ± 0.83	0.31 ± 0.06	0.36 ± 0.04	0.18 ± 0.03
Depression group (n = 90)	5.18 ± 1.23	0.45 ± 0.10	0.28 ± 0.06	0.12 ± 0.03
t	2.816	6.860	7.115	8.576
P value	0.006	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001

N_mod: Number of modules; CV_size: Coefficient of variation in module size; W_in: Mean within-module connectivity strength; W_out: Mean inter-module connectivity.

Table 6 Differences in network modularity characteristics between male and female patients with depression, mean ± SD

Subgroup	N_mod	CV_size	W_in	W_out
Men (n = 45)	5.23 ± 1.31	0.45 ± 0.10	0.31 ± 0.04	0.11 ± 0.02
Women (n = 45)	5.13 ± 1.15	0.44 ± 0.10	0.25 ± 0.06	0.14 ± 0.03
t	0.417	0.718	5.314	7.095
P value	0.678	0.475	< 0.001	< 0.001

N_mod: Number of modules; CV_size: Coefficient of variation in module size; W_in: Mean within-module connectivity strength; W_out: Mean inter-module connectivity.

Table 7 Comparison of dynamic functional connectivity variability, mean ± SD

Groups	dFCV	State transition frequency (times/minute)	State residence time (second)
Control group (n = 30)	0.17 ± 0.04	2.40 ± 0.67	34.87 ± 7.67
Depression group (n = 90)	0.22 ± 0.05	1.96 ± 0.39	25.06 ± 6.11
t	5.014	4.405	7.128
P value	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001

dFCV: Dynamic functional connectivity variability.

Table 8 Differences in dynamic functional connectivity variability between male and female patients with depression, mean ± SD

Subgroup	dFCV	State transition frequency (times/minute)	State residence time (second)
Men (n = 45)	0.19 ± 0.04	2.11 ± 0.32	24.76 ± 6.41
Women (n = 45)	0.25 ± 0.03	1.80 ± 0.40	25.36 ± 5.86
t	7.692	4.057	0.464
P value	< 0.001	< 0.001	0.644

dFCV: Dynamic functional connectivity variability.

Table 9 Comparison of key network dynamic connectivity, mean ± SD

Groups	DMN internal connectivity	SN-limbic system connectivity	ECN hub nodes
Control group (n = 30)	0.48 ± 0.07	0.42 ± 0.07	0.42 ± 0.06
Depression group (n = 90)	0.35 ± 0.07	0.28 ± 0.06	0.62 ± 0.06
t	9.319	10.431	15.213
P value	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001

DMN: Default mode network; SN: Salience network; ECN: Executive control network.

Table 10 Differences in key network dynamic connectivity between male and female patients with depression, mean ± SD

Subgroup	DMN internal connectivity	SN-limbic system connectivity	ECN hub nodes
Men (n = 45)	0.39 ± 0.05	0.25 ± 0.04	0.61 ± 0.06
Women (n = 45)	0.31 ± 0.06	0.31 ± 0.06	0.63 ± 0.07
t	7.200	5.198	1.701
P value	< 0.001	< 0.001	0.093

DMN: Default mode network; SN: Salience network; ECN: Executive control network.

Table 11 Influencing factors of dynamic brain network indicators

Factors	Non-standardized coefficient		Standardized coefficient	t	P value	Collinearity statistic
	B	SE	β			Tolerance	VIF
HAMD-17	0.017	0.002	0.438	9.117	< 0.001	0.221	4.528
GE	-0.472	0.216	-0.06	-2.185	0.031	0.677	1.477
LE	-0.053	0.231	-0.006	-0.23	0.818	0.712	1.405
CC	-0.252	0.222	-0.028	-1.133	0.260	0.817	1.224
σ	-0.284	0.074	-0.115	-3.832	< 0.001	0.571	1.752
N_mod	-0.007	0.009	-0.019	-0.801	0.425	0.864	1.157
CV_size	0.258	0.114	0.064	2.256	0.026	0.640	1.562
W_in	-0.477	0.196	-0.072	-2.432	0.017	0.588	1.701
W_out	-1.298	0.354	-0.116	-3.664	< 0.001	0.506	1.978
dFCV	0.308	0.239	0.036	1.288	0.201	0.65	1.538
State transition frequency	-0.064	0.022	-0.076	-2.949	0.004	0.766	1.306
State residence time	-0.001	0.002	-0.013	-0.457	0.648	0.624	1.603
DMN internal connectivity	-0.309	0.166	-0.063	-1.861	0.066	0.452	2.214
SN-limbic system connectivity	-0.514	0.177	-0.1	-2.905	0.004	0.428	2.335
ECN hub nodes	0.611	0.156	0.152	3.925	< 0.001	0.338	2.958

HAMD-17: Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-17 items; GE: Global efficiency; LE: Local efficiency; CC: Clustering coefficient; σ: Small-worldness; N_mod: Number of modules; CV_size: Coefficient of variation in module size; W_in: Mean within-module connectivity strength; W_out: Mean inter-module connectivity; dFCV: Dynamic functional connectivity variability; DMN: Default mode network; SN: Salience network; ECN: Executive control network; β: Standardized regression coefficient; VIF: Variance inflation factor.