Measures of endothelial dysfunction in plasma of patients with posttraumatic stress disorder

von Känel, Roland; Hepp, Urs; Traber, Rafael; Kraemer, Bernd; Mica, Ladislav; Keel, Marius; Mausbach, Brent T; Schnyder, Ulrich (2008). Measures of endothelial dysfunction in plasma of patients with posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychiatry research, 158(3), pp. 363-73. Amsterdam: Elsevier 10.1016/j.psychres.2006.12.003

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Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) confers an increased cardiovascular risk. In 14 otherwise healthy patients with PTSD and in 14 age- and gender-matched non-PTSD controls, we investigated whether the categorical diagnosis of PTSD and severity of PTSD symptom clusters (i.e. re-experiencing, avoidance, arousal, and overall score) would be associated with plasma concentrations of three markers of endothelial dysfunction [soluble tissue factor (sTF), von Willebrand factor (VWF), and soluble intercellular adhesion molecule (sICAM)-1]. Compared with controls, patients had significantly higher sTF; this difference became nonsignificant when controlling for psychological distress. VWF and sICAM-1 levels were not significantly different between patients and controls. In the entire sample virtually all PTSD symptom clusters correlated significantly and positively with sTF and VWF but not with sICAM-1. The correlation between symptoms of re-experiencing and sTF was significantly different between patients and controls. Controlling for symptoms of anxiety and depression (i.e. psychological distress) rendered most associations between PTSD symptom clusters and sTF nonsignificant, whereas controlling for age retained significance of associations with VWF. Posttraumatic stress showed a continuous relationship with sTF and VWF, with the former relationship being partly affected by psychological distress. This suggests one mechanism by which posttraumatic stress could contribute to atherosclerosis.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Head Organs and Neurology (DKNS) > Clinic of Neurology > Centre of Competence for Psychosomatic Medicine
UniBE Contributor:	von Känel, Roland
ISSN:	0165-1781
ISBN:	18252265
Publisher:	Elsevier
Language:	English
Submitter:	Factscience Import
Date Deposited:	04 Oct 2013 15:06
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2022 14:20
Publisher DOI:	10.1016/j.psychres.2006.12.003
PubMed ID:	18252265
Web of Science ID:	000255379000011
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/28996 (FactScience: 132915)