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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Aging Neurosci.
Sec. Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias
Volume 16 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2024.1422862

Associations of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms with Amyloid Burden in Cognitively Normal Older Adults

Provisionally accepted
Lei Zhang Lei Zhang 1Yi-Miao Gong Yi-Miao Gong 2San-Wang Wang San-Wang Wang 2Ming-Zhe Li Ming-Zhe Li 2Xin Wen Xin Wen 2Dixin Wang Dixin Wang 3*Yong-Bo Zheng Yong-Bo Zheng 2*Yong Han Yong Han 1*
  • 1 Second Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, Henan Province, China
  • 2 Peking University Sixth Hospital, Beijing, China
  • 3 Key Laboratory of Brain Health Intelligent Evaluation and Intervention, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with the development of dementia.However, the link between PTSD and preclinical Alzheimer's disease pathology (amyloid β [Aβ]) remains controversial. Moreover, the correlation of severity of PTSD with Aβ level is still unknown.Methods: This cross-sectional study sought to investigate the associations of PTSD symptoms with global and regional brain Aβ burden. To this end, data were obtained from participants in the Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer's Disease (A4) study. In addition, we explored the association of the severity of PTSD symptoms with Aβ level.Results: A total of 4228 participants aged 65 to 85 years were included in the final analysis. Resultsshowed that PTSD symptoms were significantly associated with higher global Aβ levels (1.15±0.20 vs 1.09±0.19; β=0.056; P<0.001) when adjusting for covariates. The association between PTSD symptoms and Aβ levels was not affected by sex, age, ApoE genotype, or psychiatric diseases.Similarly, PTSD symptoms were significantly associated with Aβ levels in all subregions, including the anterior cingulate, posterior cingulate, parietal cortex, precuneus, temporal cortex, and frontal cortex. In addition, the group with severe PTSD symptoms (1.22±0.24) exhibited higher global Aβ levels than the groups with moderate (1.14±0.19) or mild (1.12±0.20) symptoms or the control (1.08±0.18), with p<0.001.The findings imply a close relationship between PTSD and brain Aβ level, irrespective of sex, age, ApoE genotype, or psychiatric diseases. More well-designed studies are needed to further explore the relationship and mechanism underlying the association between PTSD and Aβ burden.

    Keywords: Amyloid, posttraumatic stress disorder symptom, Older adult, Cross-sectional study, Dementia

    Received: 24 Apr 2024; Accepted: 11 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhang, Gong, Wang, Li, Wen, Wang, Zheng and Han. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Dixin Wang, Key Laboratory of Brain Health Intelligent Evaluation and Intervention, Ministry of Education, Beijing, 100081, China
    Yong-Bo Zheng, Peking University Sixth Hospital, Beijing, China
    Yong Han, Second Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, Henan Province, China

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