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Posttraumatic stress symptom persistence across 24 years: association with brain structures.

ABSTRACT: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is known to persist, eliciting early medical co-morbidity, and accelerated aging. Although PTSD diagnosis has been found to be associated with smaller volume in multiple brain regions, posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms and their associations with brain morphometry are rarely assessed over long periods of time. We predicted that persistent PTS symptoms across ~24 years would be inversely associated with hippocampal, amygdala, anterior cingulate volumes, and hippocampal occupancy (HOC = hippocampal volume/[hippocampal volume + inferior lateral ventricle volume]) in late middle age. Exploratory analyses examined prefrontal regions. We assessed PTS symptoms in 247 men at average ages 38 (time 1) and 62 (time 2). All were trauma-exposed prior to time 1. Brain volumes were assessed at time 2 using 3 T structural magnetic resonance imaging. Symptoms were correlated over time (r = 0.46 p < .0001). Higher PTS symptoms averaged over time and symptoms at time 1 were both associated with lower hippocampal, amygdala, rostral middle frontal gyrus (MFG), and medial orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) volumes, and a lower HOC ratio at time 2. Increased PTS symptomatology from time 1 to time 2 was associated with smaller hippocampal volume. Results for hippocampal, rostral MFG and medial OFC remained significant after omitting individuals above the threshold for PTSD diagnosis. Even at sub-diagnostic threshold levels, PTS symptoms were present decades after trauma exposure in parallel with highly correlated structural deficits in brain regions regulating stress responsivity and adaptation.

SUBMITTER: Franz CE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6722032 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Posttraumatic stress symptom persistence across 24 years: association with brain structures.

Franz Carol E CE Hatton Sean N SN Hauger Richard L RL Kredlow M Alexandra MA Dale Anders M AM Eyler Lisa L McEvoy Linda K LK Fennema-Notestine Christine C Hagler Donald D Jacobson Kristen C KC McKenzie Ruth E RE Panizzon Matthew S MS Gustavson Daniel E DE Xian Hong H Toomey Rosemary R Beck Asad A Stevens Samantha S Tu Xin X Lyons Michael J MJ Kremen William S WS

Brain imaging and behavior 20200801 4

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is known to persist, eliciting early medical co-morbidity, and accelerated aging. Although PTSD diagnosis has been found to be associated with smaller volume in multiple brain regions, posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms and their associations with brain morphometry are rarely assessed over long periods of time. We predicted that persistent PTS symptoms across ~24 years would be inversely associated with hippocampal, amygdala, anterior cingulate volumes, and ...[more]

PMID: 30830577

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Project description:Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a heterogeneous mental health disorder that can develop following a traumatic experience. Understanding its neurobiological basis is crucial to advance early diagnosis and treatment. Electroencephalography (EEG) can be used to explore the neurobiological basis of PTSD. However, only limited research has explored mobile EEG, which is important for scalability. This proof-of-concept study delves into mobile EEG-derived biomarkers for posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptom severity and their potential implications. Participants with partial PTSD, defined as meeting for at least three out of four symptom clusters, including hyperarousal symptoms, were enrolled in the study. Over four weeks, we measured PTS symptom severity using the PTSD checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) at multiple timepoints, and we recorded multiple EEG sessions from 21 individuals using a mobile EEG device. In total, we captured 38 EEG sessions, each comprising two recordings ("Recording A" and "Recording B") that lasted approximately 180 s, to evaluate reproducibility. Next, we extracted Shannon entropy, as a measure of the brain flexibility and complexity of the signal and spectral power for the fronto-temporal regions of interest, including electrodes at AF3, AF4, T7, and T8 for each EEG recording session. We calculated the partial correlation between the EEG variables and PCL- 5 measured closest to the EEG session, using age, sex, and the grouping variable 'batch' as covariates. We observed a significant negative correlation between Shannon entropy in fronto- temporal regions and PCL-5 scores. Specifically, this association was evident in the AF3 (r = -0.456, FDR-corrected p = 0.01), AF4 (r = -0.362, FDR-corrected p = 0.04), and T7 (r = -0.472, FDR-corrected p = 0.01) regions. Additionally, we found a significant negative association between the alpha power estimated from AF4 and PCL-5 (r = -0.429, FDR-corrected p = 0.04). Our findings suggest that EEG markers acquired using a mobile EEG device are associated with PTS symptom severity, offering valuable insights into the neurobiological mechanisms underlying PTSD and highlighting the potential benefits of this innovative technology in assessing and monitoring PTSD.

Dataset Information

Posttraumatic stress symptom persistence across 24 years: association with brain structures.

Publications

Posttraumatic stress symptom persistence across 24 years: association with brain structures.

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