Hair cortisol concentrations and cortisol stress reactivity predict PTSD symptom increase after trauma exposure during military deployment
| Autor: | Tobias Stalder, Sabine Schönfeld, Clemens Kirschbaum, Nina Alexander, Hans-Ulrich Wittchen, Sebastian Trautmann, Susann Steudte-Schmiedgen, Robert Miller |
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| Rok vydání: | 2015 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male medicine.medical_specialty Hydrocortisone Psychometrics Endocrinology Diabetes and Metabolism Life Change Events Stress Disorders Post-Traumatic Endocrinology Predictive Value of Tests Risk Factors medicine Trier social stress test Humans Longitudinal Studies Prospective Studies Saliva Prospective cohort study Psychiatry Cortisol level Biological Psychiatry Salivary cortisol Afghan Campaign 2001 Endocrine and Autonomic Systems Psychiatry and Mental health Posttraumatic stress Military Personnel Wounds and Injuries Stress reactivity Psychology Stress Psychological Military deployment Hair Psychopathology Clinical psychology |
| Zdroj: | Psychoneuroendocrinology. 59:123-133 |
| ISSN: | 0306-4530 |
| Popis: | Previous evidence on endocrine risk markers for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been inconclusive. Here, we report results of the first prospective study to investigate whether long-term hair cortisol levels and experimentally-induced cortisol stress reactivity are predictive of the development of PTSD symptomatology in response to trauma during military deployment.Male soldiers were examined before deployment to Afghanistan and at a 12-month post-deployment follow-up using dimensional measures for psychopathological symptoms. The predictive value of baseline (i) hair cortisol concentrations (HCC, N=90) and (ii) salivary cortisol stress reactivity (measured by the Trier Social Stress Test, N=80) for the development of PTSD symptomatology after being exposed to new-onset traumatic events was analyzed.Baseline cortisol activity significantly predicted PTSD symptom change from baseline to follow-up upon trauma exposure. Specifically, our results consistently revealed that lower HCC and lower cortisol stress reactivity were predictive of a greater increase in PTSD symptomatology in soldiers who had experienced new-onset traumatic events (explaining 5% and 10.3% of variance, respectively). Longitudinal analyses revealed an increase in HCC from baseline to follow-up and a trend for a negative relationship between HCC changes and the number of new-onset traumatic events. Additional pre-deployment analyses revealed that trauma history was reflected in lower HCC (at trend level) and that HCC were negatively related to stressful load.Our data indicate that attenuated cortisol secretion is a risk marker for subsequent development of PTSD symptomatology upon trauma exposure. Future studies are needed to confirm our findings in other samples. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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