ArticleBrain, behavior, and immunity2020
Symptom severity impacts sympathetic dysregulation and inflammation in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Article in Brain, behavior, and immunity, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 59 papers, 2 of them syntheses 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.
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
59 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 106 citations in OpenAlex.
- Altered gene expression and PTSD symptom dimensions in World Trade Center responders.Molecular psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- Meta-Analysis: Hemodynamic Responses to Sub-anesthetic Doses of Ketamine in Patients With Psychiatric Disorders.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- Rapid Reduction in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Severity after Three Fascial Counterstrain Manual Treatments: A Proof-of-Concept Study.Military medicine · 2026Trial
- DNA methylation GrimAge acceleration in US military veterans with PTSD.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2023Trial
- Eight weeks of device-guided slow breathing decreases sympathetic nervous reactivity to stress in posttraumatic stress disorder.American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology · 2020Trial
- Positive association between sex hormones and inflammatory cytokines in trauma-exposed premenopausal women.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- Resting sympathetic transduction in veterans with PTSD.Clinical autonomic research : official journal of the Clinical Autonomic Research Society · 2026Article
- Oxidative stress and impaired cardiovagal baroreflex sensitivity in young adults with post-traumatic stress disorder.Experimental physiology · 2026Article
- Individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder have increased beat-to-beat blood pressure variability.American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology · 2026Article
- Cardiac event-induced PTSD symptoms and continuous heart rate in coronary artery disease patients.Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2026Article
- Extreme Weather Events, Air Pollution, and Cardiovascular Health: Mechanisms and Challenges.Reviews in cardiovascular medicine · 2026Review
- The impact of predator stress on electroshock seizure threshold: insights into GABAergic, glutamatergic, and serotonergic pathways in mice.Behavioral and brain functions : BBF · 2026Article
- Systemic inflammation and metabolic syndrome components in threshold/subthreshold posttraumatic stress disorder and food addiction in a Polish community sample.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Article
- Maternal PTSD symptoms and sensitivity during caregiving in early postpartum: The moderating role of resting and reactive RSA in a trauma-exposed sample.Psychological medicine · 2025Article
- Biomarkers and Mechanisms of Cardiovascular Susceptibility and Resilience to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.Reviews in cardiovascular medicine · 2025Review
- Article
- Comprehensive Explorations and Preliminary Experimental Verification of RNA Modification-Related Diagnostic Markers in the Subtype Classification of Peripheral Blood-Derived Mononuclear Cells Derived from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Patients.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Psychological, neuroendocrine and inflammatory stress responses in women after miscarriage or stillbirth: investigating early psychobiological adaptations to potential traumatic events.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2025Article
- Sleep efficiency is negatively associated with resting daytime heart rate in trauma-exposed premenopausal women.Physiological reports · 2025Article
- Transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation for the treatment of trauma- and stressor-related disorders: systematic review of randomised controlled studies.BJPsych open · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with a greater risk of incident hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Inflammation, impaired baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) decreased parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) and overactive sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity are suggested as contributing mechanisms. Increasing severity of PTSD symptoms has been linked to greater cardiovascular risk; however, the impact of PTSD symptom severity on inflammation and autonomic control of blood pressure has not yet been explored. We hypothesized that increasing PTSD symptom severity is linked to higher inflammation, greater SNS activity, lower PNS reactivity and impaired BRS. Seventy Veterans participated in this study: 28 with severe PTSD ((Clinical Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) > 60; S-PTSD), 16 with moderate PTSD (CAPS ≥ 45 ≤ 60; M-PTSD) and 26 Controls (CAPS < 45; NO-PTSD). We recorded continuous blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR) via EKG, heart rate variability (HRV) markers reflecting PNS and muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) at rest, during arterial baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) testing via the modified Oxford technique, and during 3 min of mental stress via mental arithmetic. Blood samples were analyzed for 12 biomarkers of systemic and vascular inflammation. While BP was comparable between severity groups, HR tended to be higher (p = 0.055) in S-PTSD (76 ± 2 beats/min) than in Controls (67 ± 2 beats/min) but comparable to M-PTSD (70 ± 3 beats/min). There were no differences in resting HRV and MSNA between groups; however, cardiovagal BRS was blunted (p = 0.021) in S-PTSD (10 ± 1 ms/mmHg) compared to controls (16 ± 3 ms/mmHg) but comparable to M-PTSD (12 ± 2 ms/mmHg). Veterans in the S-PTSD group had a higher (p < 0.001) combined inflammatory score compared to both M-PTSD and NO-PTSD. Likewise, while mental stress induced similar SNS and cardiovascular responses between the groups, there was a greater reduction in HRV in S-PTSD compared to both M-PTSD and NO-PTSD. In summary, individuals with severe PTSD symptoms have higher inflammation, greater impairment of BRS, a trend towards higher resting HR and exaggerated PNS withdrawal at the onset of mental stress that may contribute to cardiovascular risk in severe PTSD.
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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.