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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Apr 1.
Published in final edited form as: Am J Psychiatry. 2018 Jul 19;175(10):989–998. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2018.17111199

Table 2. Meta-Analysis of Comparison of Patients With PTSD With All Control Subjectsa.

Comparison of PTSD Patients and Control Subjects Heterogeneity
Region Studies (N) PTSD Patients and Control Subjects (N/N) Effect Size 95% CI p Size Versus Controls (%) I2 (%)  p Small-Study Bias b Test, p Leave-One-Out Analysisc, Effect Size With p<0.05 (%)
CSF (total)   7 115/125 –0.17 –0.82, 0.49   0.61   98.1 82 <0.01 0.89   —
Brain (total) 21 370/443 –0.27 –0.41, –0.13 <0.01d   97.8   5   0.39 0.22 100
Intracranial volume (total) 13 224/248 –0.24 –0.43, –0.05   0.01   97.3 10   0.34 0.11 100
White matter (total)   9 165/160 –0.05 –0.36, 0.26   0.74   99.3 47   0.06 0.02   —
Gray matter (total) 10 174/169 –0.34 –0.70, 0.02   0.06   97.1 61 <0.01 0.74   —
Insula cortex (total)   5 140/184 –0.69 –0.96, –0.42 <0.01d   95.2 23   0.27 0.82 100
Insula cortex (right)   3 61/64 –0.53 –0.89, –0.16 <0.01   95.1   0   0.73 —   67
Insula cortex (left)   3 61/64 –0.78 –1.29, –0.28 <0.01   93.0 43   0.18 —   67
Entorhinal cortex (total)   5 142/147 –0.05 –0.28, 0.18   0.66   99.1   0   0.69 0.75   —
Superior frontal gyrus (total)   4 132/134 –0.52 –0.76, –0.27 <0.01d   96.1   0   0.51 — 100
Superior temporal gyrus (total)   5 119/131 –0.20 –0.61, 0.20   0.32   98.1 59   0.04 0.69   —
Superior temporal gyrus (right)   4 79/86 –0.17 –0.66, 0.32   0.50   98.3 60   0.06 —   —
Superior temporal gyrus (left)   3 79/86 –0.24 –0.83, 0.36   0.44   97.5 72   0.01 —   —
Middle temporal gyrus (total)   3 82/87 –0.14 –0.44, 0.16   0.37   99.3   0   0.75 —   —
Middle temporal gyrus (left)   3 65/66 –0.38 –0.74, –0.02   0.04   96.7   6   0.34 —   67
Inferior temporal gyrus (total)   3 80/86 –0.42 –0.74, –0.10 <0.01   97.9   4   0.35 —   67
Postcentral gyrus   3 80/86 –0.36 –0.95, 0.23   0.23   97.6 70   0.04 —   —
Inferior frontal gyrus, pars orbitalis   4 146/184 –0.33 –0.75, 0.09   0.12   97.4 69   0.02 —   —
inferior frontal gyrus, pars opercularis   3 107/109 –0.21 –0.50, 0.08   0.16   98.9 12   0.32 —   —
Inferior frontal gyrus, pars triangularis   3 107/109 –0.01 –0.32, 0.30   0.97 100.1 22   0.28 —   —
Anterior cingulate (total)   9 227/278 –0.39 –0.69, -0.09   0.010   94.4 60   0.01 0.42 100
Anterior cingulate (right)   6 139/149 –0.14 –0.43, 0.14   0.32   96.8 27   0.22 0.48   —
Anterior cingulate (left)   6 139/149 –0.40 –0.69, -0.11   0.007   91.8 29   0.20 0.79   86
Rostral anterior cingulate   6 219/253 –0.35 –0.58, –0.13 <0.01   96.0 31   0.20 0.60 100
Isthmus anterior cingulate   4 139/141 –0.11 –0.46, 0.23   0.52   98.7 51   0.11 —   —
Putamen (total)   3 100/123 –0.03 –0.30, 0.24   0.83   99.6   3   0.36 —   —
Putamen (right)   3 100/123 –0.02 –0.40, 0.36   0.93   99.9 38   0.20 —   —
Putamen (left)   3 100/123 –0.10 –0.37, 0.16   0.45   98.7   0   0.58 —   —
Pallidum (total)   3 100/123   0.02 –0.25, 0.28   0.89 100.4   0   0.56 —   —
Pallidum (right)   3 100/123   0.03 –0.24, 0.31   0.81 100.7   4   0.35 —   —
Pallidum (left)   3 100/123   0.01 –0.25, 0.28   0.94 100.2   0   0.77 —   —
Nucleaus accumbens (total)   4 140/168 –0.16 –0.39, 0.08   0.19   97.5   5   0.37 —   —
Nucleaus Accumbens (right)   3 100/123 –0.13 –0.39, 0.14   0.34   97.7   0   0.78 —   —
Nucleaus Accumbens (left)   3 100/123 –0.11 –0.57, 0.35   0.64   98.0 55   0.11 —   —
Thalamus (total)   4 140/168   0.10 –0.13, 0.32   0.40 100.8   0   0.84 —   —
Thalamus (right)   3 100/123   0.10 –0.16, 0.37   0.45 101.0   0   0.51 —   —
Thalamus (left)   3 100/123   0.10 –0.17, 0.36   0.47 101.0   0   0.84 —   —
Caudate   5 145/160   0.08 –0.16, 0.33   0.52 101.5   9   0.35 0.76   —
Caudate (right)   5 145/160   0.10 –0.16, 0.36   0.45 101.8 16   0.32 0.86   —
Caudate (left)   5 145/160   0.04 –0.18, 0.27   0.71 100.9   0   0.48 0.68   —
Temporal lobe (total)   5 93/102 –0.21 –0.61, 0.20   0.31   98.0 47   0.11 0.33   —
Temporal lobe (right)   4 82/85 –0.25 –0.60, 0.11   0.17   97.2 23   0.27 —   —
Temporal lobe (left)   4 82/85 –0.06 –0.67, 0.54   0.84 100.1 73   0.01 —   —
Frontal pole   3 107/109 –0.13 –0.39, 0.14   0.36   99.1   0   0.76 —   —
Orbitofrontal cortex (medial division)   3 107/109 –0.18 –0.45, 0.09   0.19   99.0   0   0.48 —   —
Orbitofrontal cortex (lateral division)   4 146/184 –0.57 –0.96, –0.18 <0.01   96.7 64   0.04 — 100
Parahippocampal gyrus (total)   7 207/247 –0.10 –0.52, 0.31   0.63   98.9 78 <0.01 0.27   —
Parahippocampal gyrus (right)   4 78/80   0.15 –0.17, 0.47   0.35 102.4   1   0.39 —   —
Parahippocampal gyrus (left)   4 78/80   0.19 –0.18, 0.57   0.31 103.6 25   0.26 —   —
Hippocampus (total) 41 909/991 –0.47 –0.64, –0.31 <0.01d   94.4 62 <0.01 0.01 100
Hippocampus (right) 38   799/842 –0.42 –0.59, –0.26 <0.01d   94.5 58 <0.01 <0.01 100
Hippocampus (left) 38 799/842 –0.38 –0.55, –0.22 <0.01d   94.7 58 <0.01 0.02 100
Amygdala (total) 21 578/652 –0.26 –0.51, –0.01   0.04   96.3 75 <0.01 0.62   57
Amygdala (right) 19 499/532 –0.24 –0.52, 0.03   0.09   96.1 76 <0.01 0.86   —
Amygdala (left) 19 499/532 –0.28 –0.57, 0.00   0.051   95.6 77 <0.01 0.46   —
Corpus callosum (total)   4 77/111 –0.36 –0.99, 0.27   0.26   95.2 70   0.02 —   —
a

Boldface indicates significant differences.

b

Small-study bias reported for studies with Ns >4.

c

Leave-one-out analysis examines whether the pooled effect size becomes nonsignificant when removing one effect size at a time. A value of 100%, which is the most robust result, indicates that the pooled effect size remains significant when 100% of effect sizes are removed in turn.

d

Result remained significant after Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons of 56 brain structures.