SynthesisClinical psychology review2016
Cortisol, heart rate, and blood pressure as early markers of PTSD risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Clinical psychology review, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 85 papers, 7 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
85 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 140 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prospective biomarkers of posttraumatic stress disorder in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Translational psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Early biological and psychosocial factors associated with PTSD onset and persistence in youth.European journal of psychotraumatology · 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
- Autonomic nervous system correlates of posttraumatic stress symptoms in youth: Meta-analysis and qualitative review.Clinical psychology review · 2022Pooled it
- Efficacy and acceptability of interventions for co-occurring PTSD and SUD: A meta-analysis.Journal of anxiety disorders · 2021Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Salivary cortisol in post-traumatic stress disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2018Pooled it
- Effect of cognitive processing therapy on markers of cardiovascular risk in posttraumatic stress disorder patients: A randomized clinical trial.Journal of psychosomatic research · 2023Trial
- Intranasal oxytocin administration impacts the acquisition and consolidation of trauma-associated memories: a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled experimental study in healthy women.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2022Trial
- Trial
- Effects of oxytocin on stress reactivity and craving in veterans with co-occurring PTSD and alcohol use disorder.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2019Trial
- Post-trauma mental health in children and adolescents: phenomenology, aetiology and treatment.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Article
- Resting sympathetic transduction in veterans with PTSD.Clinical autonomic research : official journal of the Clinical Autonomic Research Society · 2026Article
- From Biomarkers to New Treatments for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.Neuroscience bulletin · 2026Review
- Cross-Cultural Validation of Manual and Automated Methods for Extracting Trauma Memory Features and Predicting PTSD in Young Populations.Research on child and adolescent psychopathology · 2026Article
- Circadian instability following mass trauma predicts PTSD risk.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Advances in time-sensitive assessment and intervention for acute stress reaction.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- My Heart, My Self: an intensive longitudinal study examining the influence of intersectional discrimination on blood pressure.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Biomarkers and Mechanisms of Cardiovascular Susceptibility and Resilience to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.Reviews in cardiovascular medicine · 2025Review
- PTSD course and predictors in a 15 year longitudinal cohort following suspected serious injury.Npj mental health research · 2025Article
25 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
4 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) typically exhibit altered hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) function and sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity. The goals of this study were to determine whether HPA and SNS alterations in the immediate aftermath of trauma predict subsequent PTSD symptom development and whether inconsistencies observed between studies can be explained by key demographic and methodological factors. This work informs secondary prevention of PTSD by identifying subgroups of trauma survivors at risk for PTSD. This meta-analysis (26 studies, N=5186 individuals) revealed that higher heart rate measured soon after trauma exposure was associated with higher PTSD symptoms subsequently (r=0.13). Neither cortisol (r=-0.07) nor blood pressure (diastolic: r=-0.01; systolic: r=0.02) were associated with PTSD symptoms which may be influenced by methodological limitations. Associations between risk markers (heart rate, cortisol, systolic blood pressure) and PTSD symptoms were in the positive direction for younger samples and negative direction for older samples. These findings extend developmental traumatology models of PTSD by revealing an age-related shift in the presentation of early risk markers. More work will be needed to identify risk markers and pathways to PTSD while addressing methodological limitations in order to shape and target preventive interventions.
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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.