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. 2021 Nov 15;38(22):3086-3096.
doi: 10.1089/neu.2020.7450.

Alterations in the Topology of Functional Connectomes Are Associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Blast-Related Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Combat Veterans

Jared A Rowland  1   2   3 , Jennifer R Stapleton-Kotloski  1   3   4 , Sarah L Martindale  1   2   5 , Emily E Rogers  3 , Anna S Ord  1   2   4 , Dwayne W Godwin  3 , Katherine H Taber  1   2   6
Affiliations

Alterations in the Topology of Functional Connectomes Are Associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Blast-Related Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Combat Veterans

Jared A Rowland et al. J Neurotrauma. .

Abstract

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common condition in post-deployment service members (SM). SMs of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan also frequently experience traumatic brain injury (TBI) and exposure to blasts during deployments. This study evaluated the effect of these conditions and experiences on functional brain connectomes in post-deployment, combat-exposed veterans. Functional brain connectomes were created using 5-min resting-state magnetoencephalography data. Well-established clinical interviews determined current PTSD diagnosis, as well as deployment-acquired mild TBI and history of exposure to blast. Linear regression examined the effect of these conditions on functional brain connectomes beyond covariates. There were significant interactions between blast-related mild TBI and PTSD after correction for multiple comparisons including number of nodes (non-standardized parameter estimate [PE] = -12.47), average degree (PE = 0.05), and connection strength (PE = 0.05). A main effect of blast-related mild TBI was observed on the threshold level. These results demonstrate a distinct functional connectome presentation associated with the presence of both blast-related mild TBI and PTSD. These findings suggest the possibility that blast-related mild TBI alterations in functional brain connectomes affect the presentation or progression of recovery from PTSD. The current results offer mixed support for hyper-connectivity in the chronic phase of deployment TBI.

Keywords: PTSD; TBI; connectome; deployment; network.

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Conflict of interest statement

No competing financial interests exist.

Figures

FIG. 1.
FIG. 1.
Data processing. Data acquisition (A) is followed by source reconstruction (B). Next, functional connectivity is calculated among source series (C) resulting in weighted adjacency matrices (D). Following thresholding, adjacency matrices represent individual connectomes (E) for which network metrics describing the function and topology can be calculated. Color image is available online.
FIG. 2.
FIG. 2.
Interactions of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with Blast and non-Blast traumatic brain injury (TBI). These interactions generally followed the same pattern with the exception of connection strength. This figure presents least squared means, adjusted for all variables in the model, including covariates. (A) The presence of both PTSD and Blast TBI is associated with a decreased number of nodes; (B) Blast TBI alone is associated with lower connection strength, but in the presence of PTSD is associated with increased connection strength; (C) PTSD and non-blast TBI combine to reduce the number of nodes present; and (D) PTSD and non-blast TBI combine to reduce the average degree of the network.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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