ArticleBrain imaging and behavior2020
Posttraumatic stress symptom persistence across 24 years: association with brain structures.
Article in Brain imaging and behavior, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 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
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Post-traumatic stress disorder moderates the association between BrainAge acceleration and GrimAge acceleration.Neurobiology of aging · 2026Pooled it
- Neuroprogression in post-traumatic stress disorder: a systematic review.Trends in psychiatry and psychotherapyPooled it
- Network-level structural alterations distinguish persistent from remitted post-traumatic stress disorder: a morphometric covariance approach.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Article
- PTSD symptoms, loneliness, and amygdala volumes during pandemic social distancing associated with risk of suicidal ideation in trauma survivors with and without pre-pandemic PTSD.Journal of affective disorders reports · 2026Article
- Post-traumatic stress disorder in older adults: a global collaboration on setting the future research agenda.The lancet. Healthy longevity · 2025Review
- Article
- Treatment with morning blue light increases left amygdala volume and sleep duration among individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2022Article
- Higher Peripheral Inflammation Is Associated With Lower Orbitofrontal Gamma Power in Chronic Tinnitus.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2022Article
- Subclinical Anxiety and Posttraumatic Stress Influence Cortical Thinning During Adolescence.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry · 2021Article
- The association of PTSD symptom severity with amygdala nuclei volumes in traumatized youths.Translational psychiatry · 2020Article
- Predicting Health-Related Quality of Life in Trauma-Exposed Male Veterans in Late Midlife: A 20 Year Longitudinal Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Childhood assaultive trauma and physical aggression: Links with cortical thickness in prefrontal and occipital cortices.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
20 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is known to persist, eliciting early medical co-morbidity, and accelerated aging. Although PTSD diagnosis has been found to be associated with smaller volume in multiple brain regions, posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms and their associations with brain morphometry are rarely assessed over long periods of time. We predicted that persistent PTS symptoms across ~24 years would be inversely associated with hippocampal, amygdala, anterior cingulate volumes, and hippocampal occupancy (HOC = hippocampal volume/[hippocampal volume + inferior lateral ventricle volume]) in late middle age. Exploratory analyses examined prefrontal regions. We assessed PTS symptoms in 247 men at average ages 38 (time 1) and 62 (time 2). All were trauma-exposed prior to time 1. Brain volumes were assessed at time 2 using 3 T structural magnetic resonance imaging. Symptoms were correlated over time (r = 0.46 p < .0001). Higher PTS symptoms averaged over time and symptoms at time 1 were both associated with lower hippocampal, amygdala, rostral middle frontal gyrus (MFG), and medial orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) volumes, and a lower HOC ratio at time 2. Increased PTS symptomatology from time 1 to time 2 was associated with smaller hippocampal volume. Results for hippocampal, rostral MFG and medial OFC remained significant after omitting individuals above the threshold for PTSD diagnosis. Even at sub-diagnostic threshold levels, PTS symptoms were present decades after trauma exposure in parallel with highly correlated structural deficits in brain regions regulating stress responsivity and adaptation.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.