Genes may show post-traumatic stress disorder risk
Genes may determine who is prone to PTSD
Study of child abuse survivors may help veterans' treatment options for post-traumatic stress disorder
Published 3:30 am, Wednesday, March 19, 2008
CHICAGO — Groundbreaking research suggests genes help explain why some people can recover from a traumatic event while others suffer post-traumatic stress disorder.
Though preliminary, the study provides insight into a condition expected to strike increasing numbers of military veterans returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, one health expert said.
Researchers found that specific variations in a stress-related gene appeared to be influenced by trauma at a young age — in this case child abuse. That interaction strongly increased the chances for adult survivors of abuse to develop signs of PTSD.
The study of 900 adults is among the first to show that genes can be influenced by outside, nongenetic factors to trigger signs of PTSD. It is the largest of just two reports to show molecular evidence of a genetic influence on PTSD.
The results suggest that there are periods in childhood when the brain is vulnerable "to outside influences that can shape the developing stress-response system," said Emory University researcher and study co-author Dr. Kerry Ressler.
The study appears in today's Journal of the American Medical Association. Several study authors, including Ressler, reported having financial ties to makers of psychiatric drugs.
About a quarter of a million Americans will develop PTSD at some point in their lives. Rates are much higher in war veterans and people living in high-crime areas.