Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is an acquired syndrome characterised by cognitive decline not affecting activities of daily living. Using a quantitative meta-analytic approach, we aimed to identify consistent neuroanatomic correlates of MCI and how they are related to cognitive dysfunction. The meta-analysis enrols 22 studies, involving 917 MCI (848 amnestic MCI) patients and 809 healthy controls. Only studies investigating local changes in grey matter and reporting whole-brain results in stereotactic coordinates were included and analysed using the activation likelihood estimation approach. Probabilistic cytoarchitectonic maps were used to compare the localization of the obtained significant effects to histological areas. A correlation between the probability of grey matter changes and cognitive performance of MCI patients was performed. In MCI patients, the meta-analysis revealed three significant clusters of convergent grey matter atrophy, which were mainly situated in the bilateral amygdala and hippocampus, extending to the left medial temporal pole and thalamus, as well as in the bilateral precuneus. A sub-analysis in only amnestic MCI revealed a similar pattern. A voxel-wise analysis revealed a correlation between grey matter reduction and cognitive decline in the right hippocampus and amygdala as well as in the left thalamus. This study provides convergent evidence of a distinct neuroanatomical pattern in MCI. The correlation analysis with cognitive-mnestic decline further highlights the impact of limbic structures and the linkage with data from a functional neuroimaging database provides additional insight into underlying functions. Although different pathologies are underlying MCI, the observed neuroanatomical pattern of structural changes may reflect the common clinical denominator of cognitive impairment.

Psychological stress is a risk factor as well as a consequence of central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC). Impulsiveness, overachievement, emotional instability, and hard-driving competitiveness have been discussed as personality features in CSC patients. We investigated 57 consecutive CSC patients and 57 age- and gender-matched controls by means of the Symptom Checklist 90-R and the Temperament and Character Inventory. Somatic risk factors, illness characteristics, subjective assessment of severity of illness, and illness-related stress in different areas of life (work, private life) were evaluated. CSC patients showed significantly higher emotional distress as measured by the Global Severity Index. The CSC personality was characterized by lower scoring on the character dimension cooperativeness and the temperament dimension reward dependence. Cooperativeness as well as subjective assessment of severity of CSC has been recognized as significant predictors of illness-related work stress accounting for 30% of variance. Implicating competitiveness, hostility and emotional detachment, lower level of cooperativeness, and reward dependence support the existence of specific aspects of type A behaviour in CSC patients. Low perceived social support and loss of control may explain the significant contribution of this personality dimension to illness-related work stress. Treatment of CSC should thus incorporate psychoeducation about factors contributing to illness-related stress.

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