Subclinical Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms: Relationships with Blood Pressure, Hostility, and Sleep

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among subclinical PTSD symptoms, blood pressure, and several variables linked to both frank PTSD and the basic psychobiological adaptation to stress. The authors recruited a sample of 91 healthy, young men and women between 18 and 35 years....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Cardiovascular Psychiatry and Neurology Vol. 2016; pp. 17 - 25
Main Authors:	McCubbin, James A., Zinzow, Heidi M., Hibdon, Melissa A., Nathan, Aaron W., Morrison, Anastasia V., Hayden, Gregg W., Lindberg, Caitlyn, Switzer, Fred S.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Egypt Hindawi Limiteds 2016 Hindawi Publishing Corporation John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Subjects:	Blood pressure Cardiovascular diseases Health aspects Mediation Post-traumatic stress disorder Prevention Young adults
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among subclinical PTSD symptoms, blood pressure, and several variables linked to both frank PTSD and the basic psychobiological adaptation to stress. The authors recruited a sample of 91 healthy, young men and women between 18 and 35 years. We examined links among subclinical posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, blood pressure, sleep quality, and hostility. Posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms were associated with poorer sleep quality and higher hostility scores in both women and men. In men, PTSD symptoms were also associated with elevated resting diastolic blood pressure, and sex was an important moderator of that relationship. Moreover, sleep quality and hostility are substantive mediators of the relationship between diastolic blood pressure and PTSD. Behavioral interventions designed to increase sleep quality and restructure hostile attitudes could potentially serve as preventive interventions for PTSD and the underlying cardiovascular comorbidities in young adults.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Academic Editor: Koichi Hirata
ISSN:	2090-0163 2090-0171
DOI:	10.1155/2016/4720941