Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States.
Chronic Brain Injury Initiative, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States.
J Trauma Stress. 2022 Aug;35(4):1282-1290. doi: 10.1002/jts.22830. Epub 2022 Mar 26.
The goal of the present study was to examine associations between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity, the number of stressors experienced, and cognitive outcomes in a sample of U.S. Vietnam War Veterans (N = 274). Adults between 60 and 85 years of age completed a Vietnam Veterans Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative Project visit. A modified version of the Life Stressor Checklist-Revised (LSC-R) was used to assess the number of stressful experiences participants experienced, current PTSD severity scores were measured via the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-IV (CAPS-IV), and cognition was assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Linear regressions were conducted to examine the effect of CAPS-IV and LSC-R scores on cognitive performance. Higher CAPS-IV scores were associated with worse cognitive outcomes on the MoCA, ΔF(1, 264) = 12.686, p < .001, R = .142. In contrast, the number of reported stressful experiences was not associated with cognitive outcomes. After accounting for multiple comparisons, findings indicated that CAPS-IV severity scores were significantly associated with the MoCA memory index. In a sample of older Veterans, PTSD symptom severity, but not the number of reported stressors, was associated with poorer performance on a well-established cognitive function screening tool. Analyses of specific MoCA domains indicated that memory may be driving this association. These findings suggest that highly arousing stressors characteristic of PTSD, rather than stressful experiences more broadly, contribute to this association. Future work can use these findings to explore whether treating PTSD symptoms may help maintain cognitive function during the aging process.
本研究的目的是检验 PTSD 症状严重程度、经历的应激源数量与美国越战老兵样本认知结果之间的关系（N=274）。年龄在 60 至 85 岁之间的成年人完成了越南退伍军人阿尔茨海默病神经影像学倡议项目的访问。使用修订后的生活应激源检查表（LSC-R）的修改版来评估参与者经历的应激体验数量，当前 PTSD 严重程度得分通过 DSM-IV 临床医生管理 PTSD 量表（CAPS-IV）进行测量，认知通过蒙特利尔认知评估（MoCA）进行评估。进行线性回归以检验 CAPS-IV 和 LSC-R 分数对认知表现的影响。CAPS-IV 得分较高与 MoCA 的认知结果较差相关，ΔF(1, 264)=12.686，p<.001，R=.142。相比之下，报告的应激体验数量与认知结果无关。在考虑了多次比较后，发现 CAPS-IV 严重程度得分与 MoCA 记忆指数显著相关。在一组老年退伍军人中，PTSD 症状严重程度，而不是报告的应激源数量，与经过验证的认知功能筛查工具的表现较差相关。对 MoCA 特定领域的分析表明，记忆可能是导致这种关联的原因。这些发现表明，PTSD 特征的高度唤醒应激源，而不是更广泛的应激体验，导致了这种关联。未来的研究可以利用这些发现来探讨治疗 PTSD 症状是否有助于在衰老过程中保持认知功能。
