ABSTRACT
Adverse posttraumatic neuropsychiatric sequelae (APNS) are common among civilian trauma survivors and military veterans. These APNS, as traditionally classified, include posttraumatic stress, postconcussion syndrome, depression, and regional or widespread pain. Traditional classifications have come to hamper scientific progress because they artificially fragment APNS into siloed, syndromic diagnoses unmoored to discrete components of brain functioning and studied in isolation. These limitations in classification and ontology slow the discovery of pathophysiologic mechanisms, biobehavioral markers, risk prediction tools, and preventive/treatment interventions. Progress in overcoming these limitations has been challenging because such progress would require studies that both evaluate a broad spectrum of posttraumatic sequelae (to overcome fragmentation) and also perform in-depth biobehavioral evaluation (to index sequelae to domains of brain function). This article summarizes the methods of the Advancing Understanding of RecOvery afteR traumA (AURORA) Study. AURORA conducts a large-scale (n = 5000 target sample) in-depth assessment of APNS development using a state-of-the-art battery of self-report, neurocognitive, physiologic, digital phenotyping, psychophysical, neuroimaging, and genomic assessments, beginning in the early aftermath of trauma and continuing for 1 year. The goals of AURORA are to achieve improved phenotypes, prediction tools, and understanding of molecular mechanisms to inform the future development and testing of preventive and treatment interventions.
Subject(s)
Stress Disorders, Traumatic/metabolism , Stress Disorders, Traumatic/physiopathology , Stress Disorders, Traumatic/psychology , Brain/metabolism , Brain/physiopathology , Female , Humans , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Military Personnel/psychology , Risk Factors , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/metabolism , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/physiopathology , Veterans/psychologyABSTRACT
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with many psychiatric and nonpsychiatric comorbidities. Growing evidence suggests that PTSD as a comorbidity may impair drug adherence, quality of life and sleep quality, as well as increase rehospitalization rates, disease relapses, intensity of symptoms, morbidity and mortality. The aim of this article is to examine the literature regarding the effects of PTSD comorbidity on physical and mental health.
