Preliminary study examining the mediational link between mild traumatic brain injury, acute stress, and post-traumatic stress symptoms following trauma

Abstract

Background : The presence of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) increases post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in the months following injury. However, factors that link mTBI and PTSD development are still unclear. Acute stress responses after trauma have been associated with PTSD development. mTBI may impair cognitive functions and increase anxiety immediately after trauma. Objective : This research aimed to test the possibility that mTBI increases acute stress symptoms rapidly, which in turn results in PTSD development in the subsequent months. Method : Fifty-nine patients were recruited from the emergency rooms of local hospitals. Post-mTBI, acute stress, and PTSD symptom severity were measured using the Rivermead Post-Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire (RPQ), Acute Stress Disorder Scale (ASDS), and PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5), respectively. Results : Moderated mediation analysis indicated that ASDS, at 2 weeks post-trauma, mediated the relationship between RPQ scores at 2 weeks and PCL-5 scores at 3 months post-trauma, only for patients who met mTBI diagnostic criteria. Conclusions : These findings present preliminary evidence suggesting that acute stress disorder symptoms may be one of the mechanisms involved in the development of PTSD among trauma survivors who have experienced mTBI, which provides a theoretical basis for early intervention of PTSD prevention after mTBI.

Effects of acute pain medications on posttraumatic stress symptoms in early aftermath of trauma

“…The current study is a part of a larger ongoing longitudinal neuroimaging study, and study procedure has been published previously (Shih et al , 2020; Chen et al , 2021). In brief, adult trauma survivors were recruited from the ED of two local hospitals within 48 h posttrauma.…”

Early self-reported post-traumatic stress symptoms after trauma exposure and associations with diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder at 3 months: latent profile analysis

“…1 Accumulating evidence has revealed that PTSS severity is associated with multifaceted pre-, peri-and post-trauma risk factors, such as history of childhood maltreatment, presence of mild traumatic brain injury at the time of event and subsequent brain alterations in emotion neurocircuitry. [2][3][4][5] Notably, early post-traumatic stress responses that emerge within days to weeks post-trauma have been shown to be robust predictors of future development of PTSD. 6,7 These studies employed group-based variable-centred analytic methods to identify predictors of interest.…”