Military service members who have returned from theaters of war are at increased risk of mental health problems. But few studies have examined the physical effects that war-zone related stress may have on the structure of the brain. A new study led by investigators at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, investigates microstructural changes in the limbic and paralimbic gray matter regions of the brain—areas that control basic emotions and drives. The team analyzed diffusion-weighted MRI scans from 168 male veterans who had participated in the Translational Research Center for TBI and Stress Disorders (TRACTS) study, which took place in 2010 to 2014 at the Veterans Affair Rehabilitation Research and Development TBI National Network Research Center. The team found that war-zone related stress was associated with alterations of the limbic gray matter microstructure, independent of a diagnosis of a mental health disorder or mild traumatic injury. These structural alterations were, in turn, associated with cognitive functioning, including impaired response inhibition as well as improved verbal short-term memory and processing speed.
“These findings suggest that war zone-related stress may lead to microstructure alterations in the brain,” said corresponding author Inga K. Koerte, MD, of the Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory in the Brigham’s Department of Psychiatry. “These changes may underlie the deleterious outcomes of war zone-related stress on brain health. Given these findings, military service members may benefit from early therapeutic interventions following deployment.”
Read more in JAMA Network Open.
JAMA Network Open
10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.31891
Observational study
People
Association of War Zone–Related Stress With Alterations in Limbic Gray Matter Microstructure
16-Sep-2022
Dr E. Kaufmann reported receiving grants from the German Society of Clinical Neurophysiology and Functional Imaging (DGKN) during the conduct of the study. Dr Rojczyk reported receiving grants from Evangelisches Studienwerk Villigst outside the submitted work. Dr Tripodis reported receiving grants from National Institutes of Health during the conduct of the study. Dr Hinds reported being employed by Wounded Warrior Project June 2021 to June 2022 and being a consultant/owner for SCS Consulting LLC May 2020 to present outside the submitted work. Dr Koerte reported receiving personal fees from Siemens Thieme Publisher (royalties from book chapters) and grants from Abbott, National Institutes of Health, and European Research Council, outside the submitted work; and serving as Vice President of the European Neurotrauma Organization and as European Editor of the Journal of Neurotrauma. No other disclosures were reported.