Memory and prefrontal functions in earthquake survivors: differences between current and past post-traumatic stress disorder patients

Objective: Many studies reported deficits in cognitive functions in post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Most were, however, conducted on man‐made trauma survivors. The high comorbidity of alcohol use and depression with PTSD in these studies further complicated the interpretation of their result...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica Vol. 119; no. 1; pp. 35 - 44
Main Authors:	Eren-Kocak, E, Kilic, C, Aydin, I, Hizli, F G
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-01-2009 Blackwell
Subjects:	Adult Adult and adolescent clinical studies Anxiety disorders. Neuroses Biological and medical sciences Cognitive ability earthquake Earthquakes Female Humans Male Mass Screening Medical sciences Memory Memory Disorders - diagnosis Memory Disorders - physiopathology Memory Disorders - psychology Memory, Short-Term - physiology Mental Recall - physiology Middle Aged Neuropsychological Tests - statistics & numerical data Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology Personality Assessment - statistics & numerical data Post traumatic stress disorder Prefrontal Cortex - physiopathology prefrontal functions Problem Solving - physiology Psychiatry Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry Psychometrics Psychomotor Performance - physiology Psychopathology. Psychiatry Retention (Psychology) - physiology Speech Perception - physiology Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - diagnosis Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - physiopathology Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - psychology Survivor Survivors - psychology trauma Turkey Verbal Learning - physiology Asia Turkey Social environment Human post-traumatic stress disorder Survivor Memory Central nervous system Anxiety disorder prefrontal functions Cognition Posttraumatic stress disorder earthquake Prefrontal cortex Trauma Stress Encephalon Earthquakes
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Summary:	Objective: Many studies reported deficits in cognitive functions in post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Most were, however, conducted on man‐made trauma survivors. The high comorbidity of alcohol use and depression with PTSD in these studies further complicated the interpretation of their results. We compared prefrontal lobe functions and memory in three earthquake survivor groups: current PTSD, past PTSD and no PTSD. We hypothesized that prefrontal performances of the current and past PTSD groups would be worse than that of control group. Method: Survivors of the 1999 earthquakes in Turkey were evaluated for current and lifetime PTSD. Memory and prefrontal functions were assessed by a neuropsychological test battery. Results: Current PTSD patients performed worse on attention, verbal memory, verbal fluency, and psychomotor speed. Past PTSD group was similar to the controls on most cognitive measures, except for their vulnerability to proactive interference and low performance in verbal fluency for animal names. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that the prefrontal organization and monitorization of verbally processed information are defective in earthquake‐related PTSD patients, more so in the current PTSD group.
Bibliography:	ark:/67375/WNG-8XHZG4BZ-R ArticleID:ACPS1281 istex:FCDF8BB3A0918EC9472762EAE3BA7EEED1142C2F ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0001-690X 1600-0447 0065-1591
DOI:	10.1111/j.1600-0447.2008.01281.x