@article{ref1,
title="Childhood maltreatment and amygdala-mediated anxiety and posttraumatic stress following adult trauma",
journal="Biological psychiatry global open science",
year="2024",
author="Harb, Farah and Liuzzi, Michael T. and Huggins, Ashley A. and Webb, E. Kate and Fitzgerald, Jacklynn M. and Krukowski, Jessica L. and deRoon-Cassini, Terri A. and Larson, Christine L.",
volume="4",
number="4",
pages="e100312-e100312",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Childhood abuse (physical, emotional, and sexual) is associated with aberrant connectivity of the amygdala, a key threat-processing region. Heightened amygdala activity also predicts adult anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, as do experiences of childhood abuse. The current study explored whether amygdala resting-state functional connectivity may explain the relationship between childhood abuse and anxiety and PTSD symptoms following trauma exposure in adults. <br><br>METHODS: Two weeks posttrauma, adult trauma survivors (n = 152, mean age [SD] = 32.61 [10.35] years; women = 57.2%) completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. PTSD and anxiety symptoms were assessed 6 months posttrauma. Seed-to-voxel analyses evaluated the association between childhood abuse and amygdala resting-state functional connectivity. A mediation model evaluated the potential mediating role of amygdala connectivity in the relationship between childhood abuse and posttrauma anxiety and PTSD. <br><br>RESULTS: Childhood abuse was associated with increased amygdala connectivity with the precuneus while covarying for age, gender, childhood neglect, and baseline PTSD symptoms. Amygdala-precuneus resting-state functional connectivity was a significant mediator of the effect of childhood abuse on anxiety symptoms 6 months posttrauma (B = 0.065; 95% CI, 0.013-0.130; SE = 0.030), but not PTSD. A secondary mediation analysis investigating depression as an outcome was not significant. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Amygdala-precuneus connectivity may be an underlying neural mechanism by which childhood abuse increases risk for anxiety following adult trauma. Specifically, this heightened connectivity may reflect attentional vigilance for threat or a tendency toward negative self-referential thoughts. <br><br>FINDINGS suggest that childhood abuse may contribute to longstanding upregulation of attentional vigilance circuits, which makes one vulnerable to anxiety-related symptoms in adulthood.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2667-1743",
doi="10.1016/j.bpsgos.2024.100312",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsgos.2024.100312"
}