Trauma survivors experience lasting physical health effects

SAN FRANCISCO — Survivors of traumatic events continued to experience physical symptoms long after the initial trauma, according to data presented at the 2013 American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting.

During a poster session, Phebe Tucker, MD, a psychiatry professor at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, presented results from a study of Hurricane Katrina survivors. Tucker found that regardless of the presence of PTSD symptoms, the survivors still had more acute cardiovascular reactions to reminders of the trauma and higher levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), which spurs inflammation.

“We know that a disaster has an effect on people’s minds and bodies,” Tucker said. “What we don’t know is whether this negatively affects their health in the long run, or if this protects them in the long-run so that they can mount the fight or flight response [when faced with any future traumas].”

Tucker and David Tiller, MD, also of the University of Oklahoma, evaluated emotional and biological stress markers in adult Hurricane Katrina survivors (n=34) who were relocated to Oklahoma 22 months after the storm and ensuing floods. The group was compared with 34 demographically matched controls.

Tucker and researchers found that Hurricane Katrina survivors demonstrated higher levels of PTSD and depression symptoms and more PTSD diagnoses than controls (35% vs. 12%). In a resting, non-stressful situation, the Katrina survivors had higher baseline heart rates and higher blood pressure reactivity during a non-invasive interview about the hurricane than controls, as well as greater levels of baseline IL-6 — an inflammatory substance — than controls with no prior trauma.

The investigators also studied the heart rate variability (HRV), finding survivors at rest to have higher sympathetic ("fight or flight") HRV and lower parasympathetic (protective) HRV. Also, HRV reactions to a trauma interview were abnormal in survivors with depression but not PTSD vs. controls. Tucker said these findings are important to note for assessing the cardiac health of survivors. “We know there was a threefold increase in [myocardial infarctions] at Tulane hospital in New Orleans after Katrina, so these biological responses to trauma may have been factors.”

For more information:

Tucker P. Poster NR643. Presented at: American Psychiatric Association 166th Annual Meeting; May 18-22, 2013; San Francisco.

Disclosure: The researcher reports no relevant financial disclosures.