ArticlePsychiatric research and clinical practice2021
CRF serum levels differentiate PTSD from healthy controls and TBI in military veterans.
Article in Psychiatric research and clinical practice, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 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
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Molecular pathways of ketamine: A systematic review of immediate and sustained effects on PTSD.Psychopharmacology · 2025Pooled it
- Genetic and peripheral biomarkers of comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury: a systematic review.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Pooled it
- Diagnostic Value of Serum Biomarkers in Endocrine Dysfunction, Neuronal Injury, and Inflammation Following Traumatic Brain Injury.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Neurobiological and Existential Profiles in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: The Role of Serotonin, Cortisol, Noradrenaline, and IL-12 Across Chronicity and Age.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Mechanisms Underlying Hazardous Alcohol Use After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.Alcohol research : current reviews · 2025Review
- Intimate Partner Violence-Related Brain Injury: Unmasking and Addressing the Gaps.Journal of neurotrauma · 2024Review
- Global Neuropeptidome Profiling in Response to Predator Stress in Rat: Implications for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry · 2023Article
- Assessing and Modelling of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Using Molecular and Functional Biomarkers.Biology · 2023Review
- Article
- Exploring gene-drug interactions for personalized treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder.Frontiers in computational neuroscience · 2023Article
- The Neurobiological Links between Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury: A Review of Research to Date.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
14 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
objectivePosttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a serious and frequently debilitating psychiatric condition that can occur in people who have experienced traumatic stessors, such as war, violence, sexual assault and other life-threatening events. Treatment of PTSD and traumatic brain injury (TBI) in veterans is challenged by diagnostic complexity, partially due to PTSD and TBI symptom overlap and to the fact that subjective self-report assessments may be influenced by a patient's willingness to share their traumatic experiences and resulting symptoms. Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) is one of the main mediators of hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA)-axis responses in stress and anxiety. METHODS AND
resultsWe analyzed serum CRF levels in 230 participants including heathy controls (64), and individuals with PTSD (53), TBI (70) or PTSD+TBI (43) by enzyme immunoassay (EIA). Significantly lower CRF levels were found in both the PTSD and PTSD+TBI groups compared to healthy control (PTSD vs Controls: P=0.0014, PTSD + TBI vs Controls: P=0.0011) and chronic TBI participants (PTSD vs TBI: P<0.0001PTSD + TBI vs TBI: P<0.0001) , suggesting a PTSD-related mechanism independent from TBI and associated with CRF reduction. CRF levels negatively correlated with PTSD severity on the CAPS-5 scale in the whole study group.
conclusionsHyperactivation of the HPA axis has been classically identified in acute stress. However, the recognized enhanced feedback inhibition of the HPA axis in chronic stress supports our findings of lower CRF in PTSD patients. This study suggests that reduced serum CRF in PTSD should be further investigated. Future validation studies will establish if CRF is a possible blood biomarker for PTSD and/or for differentiating PTSD and chronic TBI symptomatology.
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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.