BACKGROUND: The immunological changes determined in diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis have been found to be similar to the immunological changes in adults who developed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The biological consequences and immunological deviations of psychological trauma in sexually abused adolescents were investigated in this study.
METHODS: The number/percentages of peripheral blood cells, intracellular cytokine levels and the cytotoxic activity of natural killer cells were measured by using the routine blood examination samples in adolescents with age range 13-18 referred to our outpatient unit for forensic evaluation. Forty-three adolescents (patients with present/lifetime PTSD associated with a history of childhood sexual abuse (n = 33) and 10 controls) were evaluated in our study.
RESULTS: Eosinophil percentages were detected to be high (p < .05), whereas stimulated intracellular IFN-gamma levels were low (p < .05) in adolescents in PTSD-L patient groups compared to the control group. In PTSD-P patients exposed to repeated sexual abuse, CD3(+) HLA-DR(+) T lymphocyte counts were detected to be low (p < .05) compared to one-time sexual abuse.
CONCLUSION: The increase in some immune system parameters while decrease was detected in several others, led us to consider a dysregulation in the immune system related to trauma in adolescents. The dysregulation of the immune system is known to cause autoimmune and chronic diseases. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.