Table 1.
Demographic and clinical/psychological variables and inflammatory markers in PTSD patients and healthy controls.
| Variable | PTSD patients (n = 56) | Healthy controls (n = 73) | Analysis | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Statistic | d.f. | p | |||
| Age, years: mean ± SD | 39.2 ± 9.5 | 35.6 ± 12.7 | ct = 1.9 | 126.9 | 0.07 |
| Education levela: median (25−75 percentile) | 3 (2.25−4) | 4 (4−5) | Mann-Whitney U = 1545.0 | 0.01 | |
| Smoking: yes, n (%) | 8 (14.3) | 7 (9.6) | χ2 = 0.68 | 1 | 0.41 |
| Body mass index: mean ± SD | 21.6 ± 3.4 | 20.7 ± 2.7 | ct = 1.8 | 102.2 | 0.08 |
| Type of index trauma | |||||
| Interpersonal violence: yes, n (%) | 45 (80.4) | 0 (0.0) | |||
| Accident: yes, n (%) | 4 (7.1) | 0 (0.0) | |||
| Other: yes, n (%) | 7 (12.5) | 0 (0.0) | |||
| Duration of illness, less than 6 months/6 months or more: n/n | 4/52 | (not applicable) | |||
| Comorbid psychiatric disorder | |||||
| Major depressive disorder: yes, n (%) | 32 (57.1) | 0 (0.0) | |||
| Bipolar disorder: yes, n (%) | 3 (5.4) | 0 (0.0) | |||
| Anxiety disorder: yes, n (%) | 28 (50.0) | 0 (0.0) | |||
| Obsessive-compulsive disorder: yes, n (%) | 6 (10.7) | 0 (0.0) | |||
| Alcohol/substance abuse or dependence: yes, n (%) | 9 (16.1) | 0 (0.0) | |||
| Medication | |||||
| Antipsychotics: yes, n (%) | 14 (25.0) | 0 (0.0) | |||
| Antidepressants: yes, n (%) | 31 (55.4) | 0 (0.0) | |||
| Anxiolytics: yes, n (%) | 30 (53.6) | 0 (0.0) | |||
| Mood stabilizers: yes, n (%) | 7 (12.5) | 0 (0.0) | |||
| Hypnotics: yes, n (%) | 20 (35.7) | 0 (0.0) | |||
| Impact of Event Scale-Revisedb; total score: mean ± SD | 50.9 ± 17.4 | (not assessed) | |||
| Intrusion: mean ± SD | 17.8 ± 7.9 | (not assessed) | |||
| Avoidance: mean ± SD | 18.6 ± 8.4 | (not assessed) | |||
| Hyperarousal: mean ± SD | 14.5 ± 5.5 | (not assessed) | |||
| Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scaleb, total score: mean ± SD | 30.9 ± 9.8 | (not assessed) | |||
| AIS, total score: mean ± SD | 10.6 ± 4.7 | 3.7 ± 3.1 | ct = 9.4 | 89.4 | <0.001 |
| CD-RISC, total score: mean ± SD | 41.2 ± 19.0 | 59.2 ± 16.5 | t = −5.8 | 127 | <0.001 |
| WHOQOL-BREFb | |||||
| Physical QOL: mean ± SD | 2.3 ± 0.7 | 3.7 ± 0.6 | t = −12.9 | 126 | <0.001 |
| Psychological QOL: mean ± SD | 2.1 ± 0.7 | 3.5 ± 0.6 | t = −11.5 | 126 | <0.001 |
| IL-6 (pg/ml): median (25−75 percentile) | 0.90 (0.70−1.40) | 0.80 (0.60−1.00) | Mann-Whitney U = 2,603.0 | 0.008 | |
| hsTNF-α (pg/ml)b: median (25−75 percentile) | 0.80 (0.60−1.00) | 0.70 (0.56−0.84) | Mann-Whitney U = 2,329.5 | 0.12 | |
| hsCRP (ng/ml): median (25−75 percentile) | 173.0 (82.3−443.5) | 200.0 (133.5−388.5) | Mann-Whitney U = 1,911.5 | 0.53 | |
Abbreviations: PTSD, posttraumatic stress disorder; d.f., degree of freedom; SD, standard deviation; AIS, Athens Insomnia Scale; CD-RISC, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale; WHOQOL-BREF, World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF; IL-6, interleukin-6; hsTNF-α, high-sensitivity tumor necrosis factor-α; hsCRP, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein.
Notes: aCoded as follows: 1, junior high school graduate; 2, high school graduate; 3, some college graduate/partial university; 4, university graduate; 5, graduate school graduate.
bn = 55 for PTSD patients.
cAssumption of homogeneity of variance was not satisfied.
Bold p values represent significant results.