Project Details
Projekt
NET - Genetics of PTSD: Genetic characteristics of patients with and without symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder following an intensive care experience
Subject Area
Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Public Health, Healthcare Research, Social and Occupational Medicine
Public Health, Healthcare Research, Social and Occupational Medicine
Term
from 2018 to 2023
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 388931134
NET-Genetics of PTSD is submitted as a supplementary grant application to the clinical trial NET (Narrative Exposure Therapy) -primary care -Caring for patients with traumatic stress sequelae following intensive medical care (DFG no.: GE2073). The aim of the sub-study is to confirm and add to previous genetic findings associated with symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a unique and particularly well characterized population of patients recruited at Intensive Care Units (ICUs). Treatment at an ICU can be a very disturbing experience due to invasive medical procedures, ventilation, the feeling of helplessness, noise, lights, a disordered sleep rhythm, fear of dying etc. Thus, many patients suffer from long-term functional, medical, or psychological sequelae after discharge. Among psychiatric disorders, PTSD has a unique position as it is the only disorder in which the initiating factor, the trauma exposure, can be unequivocally identified. A number of genes have been described which may be associated with an increased susceptibility for PTSD. They are part of very plausible biological pathways and apparently play a role in fear conditioning, anxiety behaviour and emotionality. Regulatory systems involved include the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis or HTPA axis: response to stress), the brain serotonergic system (emotional response, anxiety), and dopaminergic neurotransmission (attention, vigilance, arousal, and sleep). Gene-environment interactions are also of great importance. Our study is among the first to investigate the genetic distinctiveness of ICU-patients with PTSD compared to ICU-patients without PTSD.
DFG Programme
Research Grants
Co-Investigators
Dr. Sergi Papiol, Ph.D.; Dr. Ina-Maria Rückert-Eheberg
