Abstract
Background
Metabolic syndrome (MetS), defined by a constellation of cardiometabolic pathologies,
is highly prevalent among veterans, especially veterans with posttraumatic stress
disorder (PTSD), and poses a major risk for adverse health outcomes, including neurodegeneration
and mortality. Given this, we evaluated 1) the association between MetS and neural
integrity, indexed by cortical thickness; 2) the relationship between PTSD and MetS;
and 3) whether PTSD was associated with cortical thickness indirectly through MetS.
Methods
The sample consisted of 346 U.S. military veterans (89.3% male; 71.4% white) who deployed
to Iraq, Afghanistan, or both. Neuroimaging data were available for 274 participants.
Results
In whole-brain analyses, MetS was negatively associated with cortical thickness in
two left and four right hemisphere regions, as follows: bilateral temporal lobe, including
temporal pole, fusiform gyrus, and insula, and extending into occipital cortex (left
hemisphere) and orbitofrontal cortex (right hemisphere); bilateral precuneus, posterior
cingulate, calcarine, and occipital-parietal cortex; and right rostral anterior cingulate
cortex and central sulcus/postcentral gyrus. Path models showed that PTSD predicted
MetS (β = .19, p < .001), which was associated with reduced cortical thickness (β = −.29 to −.43,
all p < .001).
Conclusions
Results from this young veteran sample provide evidence that PTSD confers risk for
cardiometabolic pathology and neurodegeneration and raise concern that this cohort
may be aging prematurely and at risk for substantial medical and cognitive decline.
This study highlights the need to identify the molecular mechanisms linking PTSD to
MetS and effective interventions to reduce PTSD-related health comorbidities.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 08, 2015
Accepted:
November 25,
2015
Received in revised form:
November 24,
2015
Received:
September 14,
2015
Identification
Copyright
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