Citation

Zhang X, Zhang J, Wang L, Zhang W. Front. Psychiatry 2018; 9: e629.

Affiliation

Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Frontiers Media)

DOI

10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00629

PMID

30555358

PMCID

PMC6284061

Abstract

Objective: To detect the changes of gray matter volume (GMV) and their correlation with severity of symptom in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who were defined with updated DSM-5 diagnostic criteria. Method: 71 participants were assigned into PTSD group (n = 35) or trauma-exposed control (TEC) group (n = 36) with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition. Voxel-based morphometry analysis was used to detect alterations in GMV in the PTSD group. Results: We found that the PTSD group had larger GMV in the left middle temporal gyrus (MTG) and in the right dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), and smaller GMV in the region of the right temporal pole (TP) than the TEC group. We also found that PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) scores correlated positively with the left MTG and right dmPFC GMV, and negatively with left TP GMV. These correlations were consistent with the findings of the between-group comparisons. Conclusions: GMV alterations in the MTG, dmPFC, and TP are detected in the group comparisons and correlated with symptom severity when classifying PTSD individuals according to DSM-5 diagnostic criteria within an earthquake-exposed population.

Language: en

Keywords

DSM-5; PTSD; earthquake survivors; gray matter volume; temporal lobe