Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40972945›Full record

ArticleBiological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging2025

Childhood Adversity Is Associated With Longitudinal White Matter Changes After Adulthood Trauma.

Tianyi Li, Megan E Huibregtse, Timothy D Ely, Sanne J H van Rooij, Lauren A M Lebois, E Kate Webb, Tanja Jovanovic, Stacey L House, Steven E Bruce, Francesca L Beaudoin and 33 more

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Article in Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

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1citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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3 · Its place in the literature

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1 citing paper in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

43 authors.

Tianyi LiDivision of Depression and Anxiety, McLean Hospital, Belmont, Massachusetts.
Megan E HuibregtseDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.
Timothy D ElyDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.
Sanne J H van RooijDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.
Lauren A M LeboisDivision of Depression and Anxiety, McLean Hospital, Belmont, Massachusetts; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
E Kate WebbDepartment of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Division of Depression and Anxiety Disorders, McLean Hospital, Belmont, Massachusetts.
Tanja JovanovicDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan.
Stacey L HouseDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.
Steven E BruceDepartment of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri.
Francesca L BeaudoinDepartment of Epidemiology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island; Department of Emergency Medicine, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.
Xinming AnInstitute for Trauma Recovery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Department of Anesthesiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Thomas C NeylanDepartments of Psychiatry and Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California.
Gari D CliffordDepartment of Biomedical Informatics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
Sarah D LinnstaedtInstitute for Trauma Recovery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Department of Anesthesiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Kenneth A BollenDepartment of Psychology and Neuroscience, Department of Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Scott L RauchDepartment of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Institute for Technology in Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Belmont, Massachusetts; Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Belmont, Massachusetts.
John P HaranDepartment of Emergency Medicine, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts.
Alan B StorrowDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee.
Christopher LewandowskiDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, Michigan.
Paul I MuseyDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Phyllis L HendryDepartment of Emergency Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine-Jacksonville, Jacksonville, Florida.
Sophia SheikhDepartment of Emergency Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine-Jacksonville, Jacksonville, Florida.
Christopher W JonesDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, Camden, New Jersey.
Brittany E PunchesDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, Ohio; Ohio State University College of Nursing, Columbus, Ohio.
Lauren A HudakDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.
Jose L PascualDepartment of Surgery, Department of Neurosurgery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Mark J SeamonPerelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Division of Traumatology, Surgical Critical Care and Emergency Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Elizabeth M DatnerDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Jefferson Einstein Hospital, Jefferson Health, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Department of Emergency Medicine, Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Claire PearsonDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Wayne State University, Ascension St John Hospital, Detroit, Michigan.
David A PeakDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Roland C MerchantDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
Robert M DomeierDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Trinity Health, Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Michigan.
Niels K RathlevDepartment of Emergency Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School-Baystate, Springfield, Massachusetts.
Brian J O'NeilDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Wayne State University, Detroit Receiving Hospital, Detroit, Michigan.
Paulina SergotDepartment of Emergency Medicine, McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, Houston, Texas.
Leon D SanchezDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
John F SheridanDivision of Biosciences, Ohio State University College of Dentistry, Columbus, Ohio; Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research, Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, Ohio.
Ronald C KesslerDepartment of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Karestan C KoenenDepartment of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts.
Kerry J ResslerPerelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Samuel A McLeanInstitute for Trauma Recovery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Department of Emergency Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Jennifer S StevensDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.
Nathaniel G HarnettDivision of Depression and Anxiety, McLean Hospital, Belmont, Massachusetts; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. Electronic address: nharnett@mclean.harvard.edu.

Funding

Longitudinal Assessment of Post-traumatic SyndromesU01MH110925 · NIMH · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI KESSLER, RONALD C, KOENEN, KARESTAN C · 2016 to 2020
$25.8M
Extracellular vesicles as biomarkers of trauma exposure and PTSD riskR01MH129495 · NIMH · UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER · PI Tracy L Bale, Tanja Jovanovic · 2022 to 2026
$4.0M
Individual Variation in Effects of Traumatic Stress on Gray Matter MyelinR01MH115020 · NIMH · NORTHERN CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE/RES/EDU · PI KAUFER, DANIELA, NEYLAN, THOMAS C · 2019 to 2023
$3.9M
Investigating Fear System Myelination in PTSD Using In Vivo and Post Mortem DataR01MH132617 · NIMH · NORTHERN CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE/RES/EDU · PI HUBER, BERTRAND R, NEYLAN, THOMAS C · 2023 to 2025
$2.1M
Effect of TMS on PTSD Neuroimaging and Psychophysiological BiomarkersK01MH121653 · NIMH · EMORY UNIVERSITY · PI VAN ROOIJ, SANNE JH · 2020 to 2024
$894k
Multimodal characterization of affective visual processing in the early aftermath of traumaK01MH129828 · NIMH · MCLEAN HOSPITAL · PI Nathaniel G Harnett · 2023 to 2026
$719k
Characterizing the Neurobiology of Pathological Dissociation: Mechanisms of Face Perception and Self Referential ProcessingK01MH118467 · NIMH · MCLEAN HOSPITAL · PI LEBOIS, LAUREN ANN MCDONOUGH · 2019 to 2022
$679k
Sex differences in traumatic brain injury: Neural circuit mediators of overlapping stress and physical effectsF32MH134528 · NIMH · EMORY UNIVERSITY · PI HUIBREGTSE, MEGAN E · 2023 to 2024
$158k
NIMH NIH HHS F32 MH134528NIMH NIH HHS K01 MH118467NIMH NIH HHS K01 MH121653NIMH NIH HHS K01 MH129828NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH115020NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH129495NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH132617NIMH NIH HHS U01 MH110925
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundChildhood adversity is associated with susceptibility to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adulthood. PTSD and childhood adversity are linked to white matter microstructure, yet the role of white matter as a potential neural mechanism connecting childhood adversity to PTSD remains unclear. In the current study, we investigated the potential moderating role of previous childhood adversity on longitudinal changes in white matter microstructure and posttraumatic stress symptoms following a recent traumatic event in adulthood.

methodsAs part of the AURORA (Advancing Understanding of RecOvery afteR traumA) study, 114 recent trauma survivors completed diffusion-weighted imaging at 2 weeks and 6 months after exposure. Participants reported on prior childhood adversity and PTSD symptoms at 2 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months posttrauma. We performed region of interest (ROI) analysis using fractional anisotropy (FA) and whole-brain correlational tractography using quantitative anisotropy (QA) to index associations between white matter microstructure changes and prior adversity.

resultsROI-based analyses did not identify significant associations between childhood adversity and changes in FA. Whole-brain correlational tractography revealed that greater childhood adversity moderated the QA changes within threat and visual processing tracts including the cingulum bundle and inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFOF). QA changes within the cingulum bundle and IFOF were associated with changes in PTSD symptoms between 2 weeks and 6 months.

conclusionsOur findings suggest that temporal variability in threat and visual white matter tracts may be a potential neural pathway through which childhood adversity confers risk for PTSD symptoms after adulthood trauma. Future studies should take the temporal properties of white matter into consideration to better understand the neurobiology of childhood adversity and PTSD.

Indexed as

Childhood adversityDiffusion tensor imagingPTSDWhite matter

Identifiers

PMID40972945
PMCPMC12925602

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