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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Not everyone who experiences trauma develops posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and a new study suggests the answer may be linked to ones childhood.
According to the study results, the risk of developing PTSD increases when certain variations of a gene related to stress response -- FKBP5 -- are present in an individual who has also experienced child abuse or some other type of trauma in childhood.
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Researchers found four variations in a specific site in the stress response gene had a significant enough interaction with the severity of child abuse to predict the level of adult PTSD symptoms. It remained true after the team controlled for depression, severity of abuse, age, sex, levels of trauma exposure that were not child abuse and genetic ancestry.
The authors of the study say they believe the most important finding is the interaction between the gene variation and child abuse history. These genotypes potentially serve as predictors of both risk and resilience for adult PTSG among survivors of child physical and sexual abuse, study authors write.
PTSD affects between seven percent and eight percent of the United States population, with much higher rates among veterans and those living in high-violence areas.
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SOURCE: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2008;299:1291-13
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
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