Could PTSD Be Linked To Accelerated Aging?

New findings published in The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry suggest that post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may be linked to accelerated aging.

Researchers at the University of California-San Diego discovered the link, noting prior associaiton with a number of other mental health conditions, including chronic depression, insomnia, anger, eating disorders and substance abuse.

"This is the first study of its type to link PTSD, a psychological disorder with no established genetic basis, which is caused by external, traumatic stress, with long-term, systemic effects on a basic biological process such as aging," Dilip V. Jeste, senior author of this study, said in a news release.

For the study, researchers looked to see if PTSD might show a similar association between psychiatric disorders, as previous findings have shown. They conducted a comprehensive review of published empirical studies relevant to early aging in PTSD that also covered multiple databases spanning back to 2000. From there, researchers identified 64 relevant studies, with 22 being suitable for calculating overall effect sizes of biomarkers and 10 for mortality.

"These findings do not speak to whether accelerated aging is specific to PTSD, but they do argue the need to re-conceptualize PTSD as something more than a mental illness," said first author James B. Lohr. "Early senescence, increased medical morbidity and premature mortality in PTSD have implications in health care beyond simply treating PTSD symptoms. Our findings warrant a deeper look at this phenomenon and a more integrated medical-psychiatric approach to their care."