Table 2.
Clinical and endocrine variables of study groups (non-trauma, trauma-exposed and PTSD participants) based on the UCLA PTSD Reaction Index for DSM IV, Child Version.
| Non-Trauma Group (n = 36) |
Trauma-Exposed Subgroup (n = 17) |
PTSD Subgroup (n = 39) |
Test Statistic | p | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UCLA PTSD Reaction Index | |||||
| Number of potentially traumatic events (mean, SD) | 1.25 (1.4) | 4.35 (2.78) | 4.21 (2.52) | F2, 89 = 20.3 | < 0.001I |
| Time since the worst event | - | - | - | χ²12 = 5.23 | 0.95 |
| Dissociation during the event (%) | 4 (11.1) | 7 (41.2) | 22 (56.4) | χ²2 = 16.96 | < 0.001 |
| Intrusion Severity (mean, SD) | 5.81 (5.08) | 4.88 (4.23) | 7.67 (4.07) | F2, 89 = 2.8 | 0.066 |
| Avoidance Severity (mean, SD) | 6.97 (7.44) | 2.82 (2.67) | 8.92 (3.65) | F2, 89 = 7.67 | 0.001 II |
| Arousal Severity (mean, SD) | 7.03 (5.94) | 6.12 (4.69) | 10.59 (3.47) | F2, 89 = 7.47 | 0.001 III |
| PTSD Severity (mean, SD) | 18.08 (16.85) | 12.94 (6.96) | 24.44 (8.37) | F2, 89 = 5.8 | 0.004 IV |
| STAI-Y-Trait (mean, SD) | 45.19 (6.57) | 41.47 (6.71) | 44.52 (7.21) a | F2, 89 = 1.76 | 0.178 |
| CES-DC | |||||
| Depression Severity (mean, SD) | 18.69 (11.02) | 16.24 (8.3) | 22.64 (6.62) | F2, 89 = 3.64 | 0.03 V |
| Depression Diagnosis (%) | 18 (50) | 6 (35.3) | 34 (87.2) | χ²2 = 17.99 | < 0.001 |
| MSQ (mean, SD) | 24.36 (13.68) | 27.59 (12.7) | 32.74 (11.97) | F2, 89 = 4.07 | 0.02 VI |
| SoC | |||||
| SOC-13 (mean, SD) | 55.56 (10.17) | 58.53 (11.77) | 54.77 (8.47) | F2, 89 = 0.88 | 0.417 |
| SOFC (mean, SD) | 52.66 (6.86) | 53.65 (9.13) | 50.69 (6.95) | F2, 89 = 1.19 | 0.31 |
| Biomarker | |||||
| Hair DHEA (mean, SD) | 7.77 (3.73) | 9.74 (4.77) | 9.89 (5.17) a | F2, 88 = 3.2 | 0.046 c,VII |
| Hair cortisol (mean, SD) | 2.92 (2.56) b | 2.71 (1.39) | 3.24 (2.02) | F2, 88 = 0.74 | 0.48 c |
| Hair cortisol/DHEA ratio (mean, SD) | 0.55 (0.59) | 0.31 (0.13) | 0.36 (0.25) | F2, 89 = 2.35 | 0.101 c |
UCLA PTSD Reaction Index, UCLA PTSD Reaction Index for DSM-IV, Child Version; STAI-Y-Trait, Trait scale of the State Trait Anxiety Inventory; SOC-13, SoC Scale; SOFC, SoFC Scale; CES-DC, Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children Post-hoc analyses: I non-trauma < trauma-exposed = PTSD (ps < 0.001), II trauma-exposed < non-trauma = PTSD (ps ≤ 0.03), III non-trauma = trauma-exposed < PTSD (ps ≤ 0.006), IV trauma-exposed < PTSD (p = 0.005); non-trauma < PTSD at trend level (p = 0.082), V trauma-exposed < PTSD (p = 0.045), VI non-trauma < PTSD (p = 0.017), VII non-trauma < PTSD at trend level (p = 0.055). a Based on n = 38, b Based on n = 35, c refers to logarithmized data, - = non applicable.