TY - JOUR
T1 - Shorter Telomeres Related to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Re-experiencing Symptoms in Sexually Assaulted Civilian Women
AU - Carvalho, Carolina Muniz
AU - Messina Coimbra, Bruno
AU - Xavier, Gabriela
AU - Bugiga, Amanda
AU - Vieira-Fonseca, Tamiris
AU - Olff, Miranda
AU - Polimanti, Renato
AU - Mello, Andrea Feijo
AU - Ota, Vanessa Kiyomi
AU - Mello, Marcelo Feijo
AU - Belangero, Sintia Iole
N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by a research grant from the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP 2014/12559-5). CMC was supported by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP 2015/26473-8). BMC was supported by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES/Brasil) – Finance-Code-001. Additional grant support comes from CNPq 303389/2016-8 and CNPq 312464/2018-5. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2022 Carvalho, Coimbra, Xavier, Bugiga, Fonseca, Olff, Polimanti, Mello, Ota, Mello and Belangero.
PY - 2022/5/19
Y1 - 2022/5/19
N2 - Telomeres are short tandem repeats of “TTAGGG” that protect the chromosome ends from deterioration or fusion of chromosomes. Their repeat length shortens with cell division acting as a biomarker of cellular aging. Traumatic stress events during adulthood or childhood have been associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and short leukocyte telomere length (LTL). This study investigated whether LTL was associated with PTSD in a Brazilian sample of sexually assaulted civilian women at two time points: baseline and 1-year follow-up. At baseline, we assessed 64 women with PTSD following sexual assault (cases) and 60 women with no previous history of sexual trauma or mental disorders (healthy controls – HC). At follow-up visit, 13 persistent PTSD cases, 11 HCs, and 11 PTSD remitters patients were evaluated. PTSD diagnosis and severity were assessed using Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders III/IV criteria) and Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5), respectively. LTL was measured using multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In the baseline analysis, we observed that LTL was associated with re-experiencing symptoms (B = −0.16; confidence interval (CI) 95% = −0.027—−0.005; Bonferroni-adjusted p-value = 0.02), but no association was observed between other PTSD symptoms and LTL. In the longitudinal analysis, telomere shortening was no longer observed in patients with PTSD and PTSD remitters. In conclusion, our findings indicate that shorter baseline LTL is associated with early stage of PTSD re-experiencing symptoms in recently sexually assaulted women
AB - Telomeres are short tandem repeats of “TTAGGG” that protect the chromosome ends from deterioration or fusion of chromosomes. Their repeat length shortens with cell division acting as a biomarker of cellular aging. Traumatic stress events during adulthood or childhood have been associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and short leukocyte telomere length (LTL). This study investigated whether LTL was associated with PTSD in a Brazilian sample of sexually assaulted civilian women at two time points: baseline and 1-year follow-up. At baseline, we assessed 64 women with PTSD following sexual assault (cases) and 60 women with no previous history of sexual trauma or mental disorders (healthy controls – HC). At follow-up visit, 13 persistent PTSD cases, 11 HCs, and 11 PTSD remitters patients were evaluated. PTSD diagnosis and severity were assessed using Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders III/IV criteria) and Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5), respectively. LTL was measured using multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In the baseline analysis, we observed that LTL was associated with re-experiencing symptoms (B = −0.16; confidence interval (CI) 95% = −0.027—−0.005; Bonferroni-adjusted p-value = 0.02), but no association was observed between other PTSD symptoms and LTL. In the longitudinal analysis, telomere shortening was no longer observed in patients with PTSD and PTSD remitters. In conclusion, our findings indicate that shorter baseline LTL is associated with early stage of PTSD re-experiencing symptoms in recently sexually assaulted women
KW - PTSD symptom clusters
KW - PTSD–posttraumatic stress disorder
KW - cellular aging
KW - sexual assault against woman
KW - telomere–genetics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85131726340&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.835783
DO - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.835783
M3 - Article
C2 - 35664481
SN - 1664-0640
VL - 13
JO - Frontiers in psychiatry
JF - Frontiers in psychiatry
M1 - 835783
ER -