LiNC - Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Neurociências Clínicas, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), Brazil; PROVE - Programa de Atendimento e Pesquisa em Violência, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), Brazil.
J Psychiatr Res. 2014 Jan;48(1):32-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2013.10.009. Epub 2013 Oct 22.
Among the neurocognitive impairments observed in patients with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), attentional and executive dysfunctions appear to correlate with negative effects on education, work, daily life activities, and social relations, as well as the re-experiencing, avoidance, and hyperarousal symptoms of PTSD. However, there is no consensus regarding which aspects of attentional and executive functions are impaired in PTSD patients.
Attentional and executive functions were assessed using the digit span (WAIS-III) and spatial span (WMS-III) tests under forward and backward recall conditions, the Stroop Test, and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Our sample was composed of victims of urban violence who developed PTSD (PTSD+) (n = 81), victims of urban violence who did not develop PTSD (PTSD-) (n = 70), and healthy controls not exposed to trauma (HC) (n = 50).
The PTSD+ group had poorer performance on the spatial span forward subtest (p = 0.023; eta(2) = 0.038) and poorer execution time (p = 0.023; eta(2) = 0.042) and accuracy (p = 0.019; eta(2) = 0.044) on the Stroop Test compared to HC.
These data suggest that there are few differences between the PTSD+ and HC groups, which are restricted to less complex measures of attentional and executive functional processes (short term capacity, selective attention, processing speed, and inhibitory control) and are related to visual stimuli. Therefore, cognitive impairments directly correlated with the manifestation of PTSD.
在创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）患者中观察到的神经认知障碍中，注意力和执行功能障碍似乎与教育、工作、日常生活活动和社会关系方面的负面影响，以及 PTSD 的再体验、回避和过度警觉症状相关。然而，对于 PTSD 患者哪些注意力和执行功能方面受损，目前尚未达成共识。
使用数字跨度（WAIS-III）和空间跨度（WMS-III）测试在正向和反向回忆条件下、Stroop 测试和威斯康星卡片分类测试（WCST）评估注意力和执行功能。我们的样本由患有创伤后应激障碍（PTSD+）的城市暴力受害者（n = 81）、未患创伤后应激障碍（PTSD-）的城市暴力受害者（n = 70）和未接触创伤的健康对照组（HC）（n = 50）组成。
PTSD+组在空间跨度正向子测试中的表现较差（p = 0.023；eta(2) = 0.038），并且在 Stroop 测试中的执行时间（p = 0.023；eta(2) = 0.042）和准确性（p = 0.019；eta(2) = 0.044）方面也较差，与 HC 相比。
这些数据表明，PTSD+组和 HC 组之间几乎没有差异，这些差异仅限于注意力和执行功能过程的较简单的测量（短期能力、选择性注意、处理速度和抑制控制），并且与视觉刺激有关。因此，认知障碍与 PTSD 的表现直接相关。
