| Autor: |
Sarah Schumacher, Sinha Engel, Hannah Klusmann, Helen Niemeyer, Annika Küster, Sebastian Burchert, Nadine Skoluda, Heinrich Rau, Urs M. Nater, Gerd-Dieter Willmund, Christine Knaevelsrud |
| Rok vydání: |
2021 |
| Předmět: |
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| Zdroj: |
Journal of psychiatric research. 150 |
| ISSN: |
1879-1379 |
| Popis: |
Dysregulated hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functioning has been associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The current literature is inconsistent regarding this association, possibly due to confounding influences. Hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) allow for retrospective assessment of cumulative HPA axis secretion over several weeks and are considered a trait-like marker of HPA axis activity. Three groups of active and former German Armed Forces service members, comprising PTSD patients (n = 19), healthy controls with deployment-related trauma exposure (n = 10), and non-deployed healthy controls (n = 10) provided samples for HCC analysis. We observed significantly higher HCC in the PTSD and the deployed compared to the non-deployed group. HCC was neither significantly correlated with perceived chronic stress, nor with PTSD severity within patients. The results suggest a differential impact of trauma exposure on HPA axis activity and highlight the notion of cumulative, retrospective cortisol secretion as a psychobiological indicator of trauma exposure. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australian Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12616000956404). |
| Databáze: |
OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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