1. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Chronic Pain Conditions in Men: A Twin Study.
- Author
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Gasperi, Marianna, Panizzon, Matthew, Goldberg, Jack, Buchwald, Dedra, and Afari, Niloofar
- Subjects
Biomedical and Clinical Sciences ,Clinical Sciences ,Genetics ,Behavioral and Social Science ,Neurosciences ,Brain Disorders ,Headaches ,Migraines ,Chronic Pain ,Dental/Oral and Craniofacial Disease ,Pain Research ,Mental Health ,Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) ,Fatigue Syndrome ,Chronic ,Fibromyalgia ,Humans ,Male ,Stress Disorders ,Post-Traumatic ,Twins ,posttraumatic stress disorder ,chronic pain ,comorbidity ,twins ,genetics ,AIC = Akaike’ ,s information criterion ,CI = confidence interval ,CFS = chronic fatigue syndrome ,DZ = dizygotic ,FM = fibromyalgia ,GWAS = genome-wide association studies ,IBS = irritable bowel syndrome ,MZ = monozygotic ,OR = odds ratio ,PCL-C = PTSD Checklist— ,Civilian Version ,PTSD = posttraumatic stress disorder ,TMD = temporomandibular disorder ,VA = Veterans Affairs ,VET = Vietnam Era Twin Registry ,Medical and Health Sciences ,Psychology and Cognitive Sciences ,Psychiatry ,Clinical sciences ,Biological psychology - Abstract
ObjectivePosttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is highly comorbid with chronic pain conditions that often co-occur such as migraine headaches, temporomandibular disorder, irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome, and tension headaches. Using a genetically informative sample, the current study evaluated the genetic and environmental factors contributing to the co-occurrence of PTSD and chronic pain conditions.MethodsData from 4680 male twins in the Vietnam Era Twin Registry were examined. Biometric modeling was used to estimate genetic and environmental variance components and genetic and environmental correlations between PTSD and multiple chronic pain conditions.ResultsHeritabilities were estimated at 43% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 15%-63%) for PTSD and 34% (95% CI = 27%-41%) for the combined history of any one or more pain condition. Specific pain condition heritabilities ranged from 15% (95% CI = 0%-48%) for tension headaches to 41% (95% CI = 27%-54%) for migraine headaches. Environmental influences accounted for the remaining variance in pain conditions. The genetic correlation between PTSD and combined history of any one or more pain condition was rg= 0.61 (95% CI = 0.46-0.89) and ranged for individual pain conditions from rg= 0.44 (95% CI = 0.24-0.77) for migraine headache to rg= 0.75 (95% CI = 0.52-1.00) for tension headaches.ConclusionsPTSD and chronic pain conditions are highly comorbid, and this relationship can be explained by both genetic and environmental overlap. The precise mechanisms underlying these relationships are likely diverse and multifactorial.
- Published
- 2021