SynthesisClinical psychology review2012
Relations among posttraumatic stress disorder, comorbid major depression, and HPA function: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Clinical psychology review, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 209 papers, 10 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
209 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 450 citations in OpenAlex.
- Biological and neurocognitive correlates of comorbid post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol use disorder: a systematic review.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Pooled it
- Post-traumatic stress disorder in peacekeepers: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2024Pooled it
- Hair Cortisol Research in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder - 10 Years of Insights and Open Questions. A Systematic Review.Current neuropharmacology · 2024Pooled it
- Cortisol response to traumatic stress to predict PTSD symptom development - a systematic review and meta-analysis of experimental studies.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2023Pooled it
- A systematic review of the pharmacological modulation of autobiographical memory specificity.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Pooled it
- Alteration of peripheral cortisol and autism spectrum disorder: A meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Salivary cortisol in post-traumatic stress disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2018Pooled it
- Cortisol, heart rate, and blood pressure as early markers of PTSD risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Clinical psychology review · 2016Pooled it
- Correlates of cortisol in human hair: implications for epidemiologic studies on health effects of chronic stress.Annals of epidemiology · 2013Pooled it
- Do weighted blankets improve sleep among children with a history of maltreatment? A randomized controlled crossover trial.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2024Trial
- Pain neuroscience education improves post-traumatic stress disorder, disability, and pain self-efficacy in veterans and service members with chronic low back pain: Preliminary results from a randomized controlled trial with 12-month follow-up.Military psychology : the official journal of the Division of Military Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2024Trial
- The cortisol awakening response in a 3 month clinical trial of service dogs for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Effects of Prazosin on Provoked Alcohol Craving and Autonomic and Neuroendocrine Response to Stress in Alcohol Use Disorder.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2020Trial
- An exploratory study of salivary cortisol changes during chamomile extract therapy of moderate to severe generalized anxiety disorder.Journal of psychiatric research · 2018Trial
- Mechanistic Pathways of Mindfulness Meditation in Combat Veterans With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.Journal of clinical psychology · 2016Trial
- Interindividual differences in stress sensitivity: basal and stress-induced cortisol levels differentially predict neural vigilance processing under stress.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2016Trial
- Exploring comorbidity patterns of psychosis-related post-traumatic stress disorder and depression symptoms in stabilised hospitalised schizophrenia patients and relationships with sleep quality and quality of life: a latent profile analysis.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Article
- Cumulative trauma, neural circuits, and burnout: an integrative model of healthcare worker post-traumatic stress syndromes.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Review
- Molecular Signaling Pathways in Depression and Neuroinflammation: Focus on New Pathophysiological Proteins and Therapeutic Compounds.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
149 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Exposure to traumatic stress is associated with increased risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alterations of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) function. Research linking traumatic stress with HPA function in PTSD has been inconsistent, however, in part due to (a) the inclusion of trauma-exposed individuals without PTSD (TE) in control groups and (b) a failure to consider comorbid major depressive disorder (MDD) and moderating variables. This meta-analysis of 47 studies (123 effect sizes, N=6008 individuals) revealed that daily cortisol output was lower for PTSD (d=-.36, SE=.15, p=.008) and PTSD+MDD (d=-.65, SE=.25, p=.008) groups relative to no trauma controls (NTC); TE and NTC groups did not differ significantly from each other. Afternoon/evening cortisol was lower in TE (d=-.25, SE=.09, p=.007) and PTSD (d=-.27, SE=.12, p=.021) groups and higher in PTSD+MDD groups (d=.49, SE=.24, p=.041) relative to NTC. Post-DST cortisol levels were lower in PTSD (d=-.40, SE=.12, p<.001), PTSD+MDD (d=-.65, SE=.14, p<.001), and TE groups (d=-.53, SE=.14, p<.001) relative to NTC. HPA effect sizes were moderated by age, sex, time since index event, and developmental timing of trauma exposure. These findings suggest that enhanced HPA feedback function may be a marker of trauma-exposure rather than a specific mechanism of vulnerability for PTSD, whereas lower daily cortisol output may be associated with PTSD in particular.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.