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Posttraumatic stress disorder is found to be associated with coronary artery disease, hypertension, and heart failure.
Investigators have found that there are significant genetic correlations between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and coronary artery disease (CAD), hypertension, and heart failure (HF). However, this association was not seen for atrial fibrillation (AF), according to study results published in Translational Psychiatry.1
PTSD is a neuropsychiatric disorder with symptoms that include intrusive thoughts about past trauma experiences and changes in physiology, including increased heart rate and perspiration. An estimated 90% of individuals will be exposed to significant traumatic events in their life, but only about 5% to 10% will suffer from PTSD. It is thought that the Tac2 gene plays a role in the pathology of PTSD, since the gene is responsible for mediating fear consolidation. However, there are many potential gene candidates that could be involved with PTSD.2
According to the authors of the study published in Translational Psychiatry, PTSD has also been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), but the link is not fully understood. One link possibly involves similar genetic risk factors, which could act as a causal association. CVD has also been linked to other mental health diseases, including major depressive disorder and AF, HF, and CAD. This study is the first to investigate the causal relationship between PTSD and CVD using genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and genetical statistics.1
Investigators used summary-level data from the GWAS and applied advanced genetic methods to determine the relationship between PTSD and various CVDs. PTSD information was from the GWAS meta-analysis from the Psychiatric Genomic Consortium. For CVD, investigators specifically looked at AF, CAD, hypertension, and HF. The Linkage-Disequilibrium Score Regression was used for genetic correlations and common variance between the 2 disease states. Genomic structural equation modeling was used to identify genetic covariance patters between all traits, according to the study authors. Many risk factors, including serotonin, cortisol, growth hormone receptor, C-reactive protein, interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8, tumor necrosis factorα (TNF-α), BDNF, lifestyle and behavioral information, and psychosocial factors.1
Investigators found a modest correlation between PTSD and hypertension (rg = 0.21 [p = 3.21 · 10−23], CAD (rg = 0.26 [p = 2.29 · 10−37]), and HF (rg = 0.32 [p = 3.08 · 10−16]). For PTSD and AF, there was no clear evidence for genetic correlation (rg = 0.03 [p = 0.16]). Further, the estimating correlation of PTSD GWAS on the common CVD risk factors showed a 10.2% variance in CV latent factor attributable to SNP effects with PTSD, according to the study authors.1
Additionally, the investigators reported low genetic correlation for serotonin, cortisol, growth-hormone receptor, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, TNF-α, alcohol intake, and body mass index. Alternatively, moderate genetic correlation was shown for C-reactive protein, IL-6, IL-8, alcohol dependence, smoking initiation, and insomnia. High genetic correlation was seen with loneliness, according to the study authors.1
Specifically, shared genetic variation of CAD and PTSD was mainly mediated with behavioral traits, including insomnia and educational attainment having the largest effect, waist-to-hip ratio, C-reactive protein, smoking initiation, and IL-6 for PTSD and HF, IL-6, insomnia, and waste-to-hip ratio for hypertension. They concluded that there was strong causal effects of PTSD on CAD, weak evidence for hypertension, and weak evidence for HF.1