Comorbid conditions explain the association between posttraumatic stress disorder and incident cardiovascular disease

Background Posttraumatic stress disorder ( PTSD ) is associated with risk of cardiovascular disease ( CVD ). Biopsychosocial factors associated with PTSD likely account for some or all of this association. We determined whether 1, or a combination of comorbid conditions explained the association between PTSD and incident CVD . Methods and Results Eligible patients used 1 of 5 Veterans Health Affairs medical centers distributed across the United States. Data were obtained from electronic health records. At index date, 2519 Veterans Health Affairs ( VA ) patients, 30 to 70 years of age, had PTSD diagnoses and 1659 did not. Patients had no CVD diagnoses for 12 months before index date. Patients could enter the cohort between 2008 and 2012 with follow-up until 2015. Age-adjusted Cox proportional hazard models were computed before and after adjusting for comorbidities. Patients were middle aged (mean=50.1 years, SD ±11.0), mostly male (87.0%), and 60% were white. The age-adjusted association between PTSD and incident CVD was significant (hazard ratio=1.41; 95% CI : 1.21-1.63). After adjustment for metabolic conditions, the association between PTSD and incident CVD was attenuated but remained significant (hazard ratio=1.23; 95% CI : 1.06-1.44). After additional adjustment for smoking, sleep disorder, substance use disorder, anxiety disorders, and depression, PTSD was not associated with incident CVD (hazard ratio=0.96; 95% CI : 0.81-1.15). Conclusions PTSD is not an independent risk factor for CVD . Physical and psychiatric conditions and smoking that co-occur with PTSD explain why this patient population has an increased risk of CVD . Careful monitoring may limit exposure to CVD risk factors and subsequent incident CVD

Revisiting Brain Atrophy and Its Relationship to Disability in Multiple Sclerosis

Brain atrophy is a well-accepted imaging biomarker of multiple sclerosis (MS) that partially correlates with both physical disability and cognitive impairment.Based on MRI scans of 60 MS cases and 37 healthy volunteers, we measured the volumes of white matter (WM) lesions, cortical gray matter (GM), cerebral WM, caudate nucleus, putamen, thalamus, ventricles, and brainstem using a validated and completely automated segmentation method. We correlated these volumes with the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), MS Severity Scale (MSSS), MS Functional Composite (MSFC), and quantitative measures of ankle strength and toe sensation. Normalized volumes of both cortical and subcortical GM structures were abnormally low in the MS group, whereas no abnormality was found in the volume of the cerebral WM. High physical disability was associated with low cerebral WM, thalamus, and brainstem volumes (partial correlation coefficients ~0.3-0.4) but not with low cortical GM volume. Thalamus volumes were inversely correlated with lesion load (r = -0.36, p<0.005).The GM is atrophic in MS. Although lower WM volume is associated with greater disability, as might be expected, WM volume was on average in the normal range. This paradoxical result might be explained by the presence of coexisting pathological processes, such as tissue damage and repair, that cause both atrophy and hypertrophy and that underlie the observed disability

The impact of endorsing Spitzer’s proposed criteria for PTSD in the forthcoming DSM-V on male and female Veterans

This study explored differences between Spitzer’s proposed model of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the current DSM-IV diagnostic classification scheme in 353 Veterans. The majority of Veterans (89%) diagnosed with PTSD as specified in the DSM-IV also met Spitzer’s proposed criteria. Veterans who met both DSM-IV and Spitzer’s proposed criteria had significantly higher Clinician Administered PTSD Scale severity scores than Veterans only meeting DSM-IV criteria. Logistic regression indicated that being African American and having no comorbid diagnosis of major depressive disorder or history of a substance use disorder were found to predict those Veterans who met current, but not proposed criteria. These findings have important implications regarding proposed changes to the diagnostic classification criteria for PTSD in the forthcoming DSM-V

Reading Between the Lines: Exploring Lexical and Emotional Content in Baseline Trauma Impact Statements

The words a person uses while describing salient life events/experiences can provide a wealth of information about their cognitive and emotional functioning. Linguistic analyses can thus play an important role in clinical settings by providing insights into patients' mental health. The current paper applies such techniques to the study of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It uses a combination of computational and human rating methods to analyze the lexical and emotional content of trauma appraisal essays (i.e., impact statements) written by a treatment-seeking clinical sample (N=94). More frequent use of first-person plural pronouns (e.g., 'we', 'our') was associated with lower self-reported PTSD and depressive severity, higher ratings of expressed anger were associated with higher clinician-rated PTSD severity, and higher ratings of expressed vulnerable emotions were associated with higher self-reported PTSD and depressive severity. Text-mining approaches also provided insights into common themes across participants' trauma impact statements (e.g., safety, trust, and self-esteem)