Heart rate reactivity (phasic minus tonic HR) and somatic arousal symptoms significantly predicted the development of PTSD at 12 months, which occurred in 10% of injury survivors.
Cohort (n=197)
Do acute, tonic, and phasic heart rate measures predict subsequent posttraumatic stress disorder in injury survivors?
Heart rate reactivity (phasic minus tonic) and somatic arousal, but not resting heart rate, are significant predictors of developing PTSD 12 months after traumatic injury.
OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between acute measures of a) heart rate (HR) immediately after traumatic injury, b) tonic (resting) HR at 1 week post injury, c) phasic (aroused) HR at 1 week post injury, and d) somatic symptoms of arousal in the prediction of subsequent posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Fear conditioning models propose that HR reactivity shortly after trauma may predict PTSD. METHOD: In a longitudinal study, consecutive injury survivors (n = 197) admitted to a hospital trauma service were assessed within 1 week and at 12 months post injury. HR was assessed by paramedics at the site of the trauma and pulse oximetry technology at 1 week post trauma. Somatic symptoms of arousal were measured using the somatic scale on the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). PTSD was assessed using the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale at 12 months. RESULTS: At 12 months post injury, PTSD was diagnosed in 10% of participants. Only HR change scores (phasic - tonic HR) and BAI scores significantly predicted later PTSD. CONCLUSIONS: These findings question the clinical usefulness of tonic HR as a biological marker of later PTSD. The finding that HR reactivity (phasic - tonic) predicts later PTSD has theoretical importance. The strongest predictor of later PTSD was somatic arousal.
O’Donnell et al. (Sun,) conducted a cohort in Posttraumatic stress disorder (n=197). Heart rate measures and somatic symptoms of arousal was evaluated on Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at 12 months. Heart rate reactivity (phasic minus tonic HR) and somatic arousal symptoms significantly predicted the development of PTSD at 12 months, which occurred in 10% of injury survivors.