Increased Skin Conductance Response in the Immediate Aftermath of Trauma Predicts PTSD Risk

摘要

Background Exposure to a traumatic event leads to posttraumatic stress disorder in 10% to 20% of exposed individuals. Predictors of risk are needed to target early interventions to those who are most vulnerable. The objective of the study was to test whether a noninvasive mobile device that measures a physiological biomarker of autonomic nervous system activation could predict future posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. Methods Skin conductance response was collected during a trauma interview in the emergency department within hours of exposure to trauma in 95 individuals. Trajectories of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms over 12-month posttrauma were identified using latent growth mixture modeling. Results Skin conductance response was significantly correlated with the probability of being in the chronic posttraumatic stress disorder trajectory following trauma exposure in the emergency department (r?=?0.489, p?