ArticlePsychoneuroendocrinology2022
Trauma, psychological distress and markers of systemic inflammation among US women: A longitudinal study.
Article in Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Distress, multimorbidity, and complex multimorbidity among Chinese and Korean American older adults.PloS one · 2024Trial
- Towards scalable biomarker discovery in posttraumatic stress disorder: triangulating genomic and phenotypic evidence from a health system biobank.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Mental Health, Mucosal Immunity, and HIV Susceptibility Following Sexual Violence: Evidence from the THRIVE Study.Viruses · 2026Article
- Integrating gut microbiota and violence exposure metrics to classify psychological distress in middle-aged adults.Communications medicine · 2026Article
- Associations between mental health indicators and genital immune biomarkers among recent survivors of forced sex: A case-control analysis.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2026Article
- Posttraumatic stress disorder and epigenetic signatures of inflammation in middle-aged women.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2025Article
- Psychological distress in older adults: associations with epigenetic markers of ageing, inflammation, and depression, and joint effects on mortality.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025Article
- Expression of inflammatory states in response to psychological distress in breast cancer survivors and its relationship to subjective memory function complaints.BMC women's health · 2025Article
- C-reactive protein as a possible indicator of PTSD prognosis and comorbid anhedonia.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2025Article
- Psychological distress in young adults with well-controlled psoriasis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Article
- Associations between body mass index, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, and depressive symptoms: NHANES 2015-2016.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Effects of group trauma-sensitive yoga on inflammatory markers and psychological well-being in women veterans with PTSD: A randomized controlled trial.Brain behavior and immunity integrative · 2023Article
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Abstract
backgroundPrior evidence links posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, separately, with chronic inflammation. However, whether effects are similar across each independently or potentiated when both are present is understudied. We evaluated combined measures of PTSD and depression in relation to inflammatory biomarker concentrations.
methodsData are from women (n's ranging 628-2797) in the Nurses' Health Study II. Trauma exposure, PTSD, and depression symptoms were ascertained using validated questionnaires. We examined (a) a continuous combined psychological distress score summing symptoms for PTSD and depression, and (b) a categorical cross-classified measure of trauma/PTSD symptoms/depressed mood status (reference group: no trauma or depressed mood). Three inflammatory biomarkers (C-reactive protein [CRP], interleukin-6 [IL-6], tumor necrosis factor alpha receptor 2 [TNFR2]) were assayed from at least one of two blood samples collected 10-16 years apart. We examined associations of our exposures with levels of each biomarker concentration (log-transformed and batch-corrected) as available across the two time points (cross-sectional analyses; CRP, IL-6 and TNFR2) and with rate of change in biomarkers across time (longitudinal analyses; CRP and IL-6) using separate linear mixed effects models.
resultsIn sociodemographic-adjusted models accounting for trauma exposure, a one standard deviation increase in the continuous combined psychological distress score was associated with 10.2% (95% confidence interval (CI): 5.2-15.4%) higher CRP and 1.5% (95% CI: 0.5-2.5%) higher TNFR2 concentrations cross-sectionally. For the categorical exposure, women with trauma/PTSD symptoms/ depressed mood versus those with no trauma or depressed mood had 29.5% (95% CI: 13.3-47.9%) higher CRP and 13.1% (95% CI: 5.1-21.7%) higher IL-6 cross-sectionally. In longitudinal analysis, trauma/PTSD symptoms/depressed mood was associated with increasing CRP levels over time.
conclusionsHigh psychological distress levels with trauma exposure is associated with elevated inflammation and is a potential biologic pathway by which distress can impact development of inflammatory-related chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease. Considering multiple forms of distress in relation to these pathways may provide greater insight into who is at risk for biologic dysregulation and later susceptibility to chronic diseases.
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