ArticleAmerican journal of epidemiology2014
Posttraumatic stress disorder, combat exposure, and carotid intima-media thickness in male twins.
Article in American journal of epidemiology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Self-reported experiences of discrimination and health: scientific advances, ongoing controversies, and emerging issues.Annual review of clinical psychology · 2015Pooled it
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Atherosclerosis: Co-Phenomena, or Cause-and-Effect?Current atherosclerosis reports · 2026Review
- Lack of relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder and coronary atherosclerotic burden among twin veterans from the Vietnam era.American journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Police-related Stress and Carotid Intima Media Thickness Among African American Women.Biopsychosocial science and medicine · 2026Article
- Serving Vietnam Veterans Hospitalized Outside the VA System: A Scoping Review of Presumptive Service-Related Illnesses and Presentations.Journal of general internal medicine · 2025Article
- Cortico-limbic interactions and carotid atherosclerotic burden during chronic stress exposure.European heart journal · 2024Article
- The occurrence of ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and non-STEMI in patients with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) using the large nationwide inpatient sample (NIS).American journal of cardiovascular disease · 2024Article
- PTSD, Immune System, and Inflammation.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2023Article
- Stress and Cardiometabolic Disease Risk for Indigenous Populations throughout the Lifespan.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Association of traumatic stress and posttraumatic stress disorder with carotid atherosclerosis: findings from the general population.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2020Article
- Expectations of Racism and Carotid Intima-Media Thickness in African American Women.Psychosomatic medicine · 2019Article
- Post-trauma cardiovascular risk factors and subclinical atherosclerosis in young adults following the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2019Article
- Trauma and Autonomic Dysregulation: Episodic-Versus Systemic-Negative Affect Underlying Cardiovascular Risk in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.Psychosomatic medicine · 2017Article
- Autonomic and inflammatory consequences of posttraumatic stress disorder and the link to cardiovascular disease.American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology · 2015Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with an increased risk of ischemic heart disease, though the pathophysiologic mechanisms remain unclear. Carotid artery intima-media thickness (CIMT) is a measure of subclinical atherosclerosis. We examined whether PTSD and combat exposure were associated with CIMT in Vietnam War-era twins after controlling for shared genetic and childhood factors. Between 2002 and 2010, we studied 465 middle-aged twins from the Vietnam Era Twin Registry who were free from cardiovascular disease. PTSD was diagnosed using the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, and CIMT was measured by ultrasound. Mixed-effects regression models were used to examine individual, between-pair, and within-pair associations. Approximately 13% of participants met the criteria for PTSD, and 45% served in the Vietnam Theater. PTSD was associated with 32.7 μm higher CIMT (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.9, 64.5) after adjustment for confounders. The average CIMT for the pair increased by 59.7 μm for each additional twin with PTSD (95% CI: 15.9, 104.2). We found no significant within-pair differences in CIMT when comparing PTSD-discordant co-twins. Results for combat exposure were similar, but its association with CIMT weakened after adjustment for PTSD (95% CI: 7.0, 45.3). Among Vietnam War-era veterans, combat exposure and PTSD are associated with CIMT, though the associations are largely mediated by shared childhood factors.
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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.