This is the initial report of results from the AURORA multisite longitudinal study of adverse post-traumatic neuropsychiatric sequelae (APNS) among participants seeking emergency department (ED) treatment in the aftermath of a traumatic life experience. We focus on n = 666 participants presenting to EDs following a motor vehicle collision (MVC) and examine associations of participant socio-demographic and participant-reported MVC characteristics with 8-week posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) adjusting for pre-MVC PTSD and mediated by peritraumatic symptoms and 2-week acute stress disorder (ASD). ⋯ Most of these associations were entirely mediated by peritraumatic symptoms and, to a lesser degree, ASD, suggesting that the first 2 weeks after trauma may be a uniquely important time period for intervening to prevent and reduce risk of PTSD. This observation, coupled with substantial variation in the relative strength of mediating pathways across predictors, raises the possibility of diverse and potentially complex underlying biological and psychological processes that remain to be elucidated with more in-depth analyses of the rich and evolving AURORA data.
Ronald C Kessler, Kerry J Ressler, Stacey L House, Francesca L Beaudoin, Xinming An, Jennifer S Stevens, Donglin Zeng, Thomas C Neylan, Sarah D Linnstaedt, Laura T Germine, Paul I Musey, Phyllis L Hendry, ... more Sophia Sheikh, Alan B Storrow, Christopher W Jones, Brittany E Punches, Elizabeth M Datner, Kamran Mohiuddin, Nina T Gentile, Meghan E McGrath, Sanne J van Rooij, Lauren A Hudak, John P Haran, David A Peak, Robert M Domeier, Claire Pearson, Leon D Sanchez, Niels K Rathlev, William F Peacock, Steven E Bruce, Mark W Miller, Jutta Joormann, Deanna M Barch, Diego A Pizzagalli, John F Sheridan, Jordan W Smoller, PaceThaddeus W WTWWDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA., Steven E Harte, James M Elliott, Nathaniel G Harnett, Lauren A M Lebois, Irving Hwang, Nancy A Sampson, Karestan C Koenen, and Samuel A McLean. less
Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. kessler@hcp.med.harvard.edu.