engleski

Lipid metabolism in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a type of anxiety disorder triggered by a traumatic event. During the Homeland war in Croatia in 1990-ies a lot of people have faced the life threatening conditions or have witnessed the death of beloved and familiar person, especially the members of military forces. Fortunately, not all of them developed PTSD, indicating that some other factors (biological, genetic, environmental, early experiences) must be present to precipitate the development of the disorder. Nowadays, several lines of evidence suggest that mood disorders have been associated with abnormalities in lipid metabolism and fatty acid composition. The study included 50 male war veterans diagnosed with PTSD (aged 35-58 years, average 44.6) and 15 control subjects (aged 38-54 years, average 45.25) who also served in the war, but did not develop PTSD. The volunteers were interviewed for their nutritional and life style habits and the analysis of their blood serum was performed. Patients with PTSD were mainly with secondary school, smokers (57 %), and unemployed or retired (61 %). Body mass index (BMI) varied from 19.10 to 37.19 kg/m2, with the mean value of 27.32 kg/m2. In the control group there were more individuals with higher or high education, non- and ex-smokers (56 %), and employed (67 %). The mean BMI value in the control group was 26.12 kg/m2, with the range from 21.56 to 30.96 kg/m2. The analyses of nutritional habits revealed the sunflower oil as the main one for both groups (73 % for PTSD and 44 % for control group), followed by the vegetable oil in PTSD and olive oil in control group (16 % and 33 %, respectively). Fish consumption was "at least once a week" and did not vary significantly between two groups. Concentrations of triacylglycerols, total, LDL and HDL cholesterol in serum of the patient group did not differ from those of controls.

post-traumatic stress disorder; PTSD; lipids; triacylglycerol; cholesterol

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