背景:遭受童年创伤的人可能更容易患恐慌症(PD)。现有证据表明,童年创伤可以显著影响脑功能。同时,PD的恐惧网络模型(FNM)中涉及的大脑区域与受儿童创伤影响的大脑区域高度重叠。然而,目前尚不清楚PD患者中与FNM相关的脑区之间的功能连接是否受到儿童期创伤的影响.这项研究旨在研究儿童创伤对PD患者与FNM相关的脑区功能连接(FC)的影响。
方法:本研究招募了62例PD患者,包括21个高水平的儿童创伤(PD_HCT),41儿童创伤水平较低(PD_LCT),和40个健康对照(HCs)。患者接受了磁共振成像静息态扫描。杏仁核,前扣带,丘脑,选择海马作为目标区域(ROI),以检查ROI和全脑静息状态FC(rsFC)的组差异。
结果:与PD_HCT患者相比,PD_LCT患者右丘脑rsFC明显增加,右颞枕骨中颞回,左丘脑,和右颞枕骨中颞回。与HC相比,PD_LCT患者右丘脑与右颞枕中颞回之间的rsFC增加。
结论:儿童创伤程度高和低水平的PD患者在FNM中表现出不同的病理性rsFC改变,提示儿童创伤可能是PD症状发展的重要危险因素。
People who have suffered childhood trauma may be more susceptible to panic disorder (PD). Existing evidence indicates that childhood trauma can significantly impact brain function. Meanwhile, the brain regions involved in the fear network model (FNM) of PD highly overlap with the brain regions affected by childhood trauma. However, it remains unclear whether functional connections between brain regions associated with the FNM in patients with PD are affected by childhood trauma. This study aimed to investigate the effects of childhood trauma on the functional connectivity (FC) of brain regions associated with the FNM in patients with PD.
This study recruited 62 patients with PD, including 21 with a high level of childhood trauma (PD_HCT), 41 with a low level of childhood trauma (PD_LCT), and 40 healthy controls (HCs). The patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging resting-state scanning. The amygdala, anterior cingulate, thalamus, and hippocampus were chosen as regions of interest (ROIs) to examine group differences in ROIs and whole-brain resting-state FC (rsFC).
Compared with PD_HCT patients, PD_LCT patients exhibited significantly increased rsFC in the right thalamus, right temporo-occipital middle temporal gyrus, left thalamus, and right temporo-occipital middle temporal gyrus. Compared with HCs, PD_LCT patients had increased rsFC between the right thalamus and the right temporo-occipital middle temporal gyrus.
Patients with PD who had suffered high and low levels of childhood trauma were found to exhibit different pathological rsFC alterations in the FNM, suggesting that childhood trauma may be an important risk factor for the development of PD symptoms.