Ten-year follow-up study of PTSD diagnosis, symptom severity and psychosocial indices in aging holocaust survivors.

Objective: We performed a longitudinal study of holocaust survivors with and without post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by assessing symptoms and other measures at two intervals, approximately 10 years apart.

Method: The original cohort consisted of 63 community-dwelling subjects, of whom 40 were available for follow-up.

Results: There was a general diminution in PTSD symptom severity over time.

History of past sexual abuse in married observant Jewish women.

Objective: The authors examined instances of past sexual abuse and related demographic characteristics in the self-reports of a select group of married observant Jewish women.

Methods: Orthodox Jewish married women (N=380) ages 19 to 58 responded to advertisements asking them to complete an anonymous questionnaire about sexual experiences, including sexual abuse.

Results: Sexual abuse was reported by 26% of the respondents surveyed, with 16% reporting abuse occurring by the age of 13.

Ten-year follow-up study of cortisol levels in aging holocaust survivors with and without PTSD.

To investigate the longitudinal course of mean 24-hour urinary cortisol excretion in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the authors evaluated 24-hour cortisol excretion in 28 Holocaust survivors 10 years after obtaining an initial estimate. Cortisol levels increased in participants whose PTSD had remitted (n = 3) but declined in participants who developed PTSD (n = 3) or whose PTSD status did not change over time (PTSD+: n = 14, PTSD-: n = 8). Cortisol levels at Time 1 predicted diagnostic status change better than psychological variables, including exposure to traumatic events between assessments.

Effects of parental PTSD on the cortisol response to dexamethasone administration in their adult offspring.

Objective: The authors used a low-dose dexamethasone suppression test to examine the effect of a PTSD risk factor, parental PTSD, on cortisol negative feedback inhibition in adult offspring of Holocaust survivors with PTSD (N=13) versus without PTSD (N=12) as well as a comparison group of offspring whose parents had no Holocaust exposure (N=16).

Method: Blood samples were obtained at 8:00 a.m.

Clinical correlates of 24-h cortisol and norepinephrine excretion among subjects seeking treatment following the world trade center attacks on 9/11.

Unlabelled: Whereas trauma-associated arousal has been linked fairly consistently with elevations in both glucocorticoids and catecholamines, neuroendocrine correlates of hyperarousal in the context of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been more variable. Further, neuroendocrine predictors of the development of PTSD following trauma have been related to prior exposure, and data from several laboratories suggests that hyperarousal may develop in a neuroendocrine milieu of relatively diminished basal glucocorticoid secretion.

Methods: In this article we examined 24-h cortisol and norepinephrine excretion in 42 treatment-seeking survivors of the 9/11 World Trade Center (WTC) attacks, 32 of whom met criteria for PTSD, and 15 of whom met criteria for major depression, at the time of evaluation; 14 of the 15 subjects meeting criteria for major depression also suffered from PTSD.