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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Anxiety and Stress Disorders
Volume 16 - 2025 |
doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1523994
This article is part of the Research Topic Bidirectional links between psychological trauma and physical symptoms: pathophysiology, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment View all articles
Systema.c Review and Meta-Analysis of Post-Trauma.c Stress Disorder as a Risk Factor for Mul.ple Autoimmune Diseases Authors
Provisionally accepted- 1 Rocky Vista University, Parker, United States
- 2 Rocky Vista University, Ivins, Utah, United States
Background: Post Trauma.c Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a prevalent and debilita.ng psychiatric illness that has been linked to poor health outcomes and increased risk of developing chronic health condi.ons, including mul.ple autoimmune diseases such as Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), Rheumatoid Arthri.s (RA), and Mul.ple Sclerosis (MS). Aim: This meta-analysis assesses the epidemiological research in this field and briefly explores the hypothesized neurobiological and immunological mechanisms that may underlie the associa.on between PTSD and the development of Autoimmune Disease.Methods: PubMed, SCOPUS, and Cochrane Reviews databases were searched for all relevant ar.cles in August 2023. Studies were systema.cally screened for relevance and inclusion criteria by two reviewers before quality assessment and data extrac.on were performed. Fixed and random-effect meta-analyses were performed to evaluate PTSD as a risk factor for the development of specific autoimmune diseases. Subgroup analyses examining the roles of biological sex and PTSD severity were also performed. Results: The ini.al search yielded 3010 ar.cles where only eight prospec.ve and retrospec.ve cohort studies met criteria for inclusion in the meta-analysis. These eight studies were subdivided based on specific disease outcomes. Random effects model for risk of developing any autoimmune disease in persons with PTSD vs. control was 1.291 (95% CI = 1.179 to 1.412; P <0.001; n=1,984,310; 4 studies included). The strength of the associa.on between PTSD and risk of developing specific autoimmune diseases varied by outcome condi.on from 1.142 (95% CI = 1.085 to 1.202, P <0.001) for risk of IBD to 1.302 (1.037 to 1.635, P = 0.023) for risk of MS. Random effects models showed sta.s.cally significant associa.ons between PTSD and IBD, SLE, RA, MS, and Thyroidi.s.These results suggest that the risk for developing autoimmune condi.ons, including SLE, MS, RA, and IBD, is significantly increased in the semng of PTSD. This associa.on may have important implica.ons on clinical prac.ce and research into the pathophysiology of stress disorders.
Keywords: Conceptualiza.on, methodology, Inves.ga.on, Data cura.on, Wri.ng -Original Dra`, Visualiza.on. NH, SS: Conceptualiza.on, Wri.ng -Original Dra`. IZ: Methodology
Received: 06 Nov 2024; Accepted: 06 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Mandagere, Stoy, Hammerle, Zapata and Brooks. 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:
Isain Zapata, Rocky Vista University, Parker, United States
Benjamin Brooks, Rocky Vista University, Ivins, Utah, United States
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