Citation

Santhanam P, Wilson SH, Mulatya C, Oakes TR, Weaver L. J. Neurotrauma 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

LDS Hospital, Hyperbaric Medicine , 8th Avenue and C Street , Salt Lake City, Utah, United States , 84143 ; lindell.weaver@imail.org.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Mary Ann Liebert Publishers)

DOI

10.1089/neu.2018.6242

PMID

31094282

Abstract

Despite the prevalence of combat-related mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and relatively high incidence of concurrent post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the joint effect of these conditions on the brain is not well-understood. Furthermore, few studies in the mTBI or PTSD populations focus on cortical surface area measures despite known disruptions to cytoarchitecture of the cortex. This study examines the effects of comorbid mTBI and PTSD on age-related surface area changes across the cortex, as compared to a group with mTBI only. While a direct comparison of PTSD vs. non-PTSD groups showed little difference on surface area measures, several regions showed a decline in surface area with increasing age and a significant PTSD by age interaction effect, indicating an age-dependent decrease in surface area in those with both mTBI and PTSD. The findings suggest an apparent age-accelerated shrinking of the cortical surface area in some regions when mTBI and PTSD are present, a pattern that was not consistently found in those with mTBI only. Among the several cortical regions with significant age-by-group interactions were bilateral posterior cingulate cortex (left: p=0.03, right: p=0.02), isthmus of the cingulate (left: p=0.016, right: p=0.001), and lateral orbitofrontal cortex (left: p=0.038, right: p=0.02). It is possible these findings are related to a larger pattern of premature neurodegeneration and age-acceleration noted in those with long-term PTSD.

Language: en

Keywords

AGE; MRI; TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY