Title Psychological and Neurobiological Consequences of the Gulf War Experience

Research Focus: Brain & Nervous System Research Type: Epidemiology/Clinical Research

Agency DoD Study Location VAMC West Haven, CT

Study Start Date 6/7/96 Estimated Completion Date 7/6/99

Project Status Ongoing DoD-40

Summary

OVERALL PROJECT OBJECTIVE: To determine the nature of memory for traumatic events as they relate to PTSD symptomatology.

SPECIFIC AIMS: To examine the course of memory for traumatic events over time and the brain areas believed to be altered due to trauma.

METHODOLOGY: Longitudinal follow-up of a cohort of veterans of Operation Desert Storm (e.g. questionnaires, ratings scales). MRI study of 30 Desert Storm veterans with PTSD. This research will continue to follow the course of symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in a population of Gulf War veteans. This study of how such symptoms, as well as memory function, change over time in the veterans will lead to a better understanding of PTSD and the elements of risk that would cause and continue PTSD symptoms over time. The study is in two parts. The first part is a longitudinal descriptive study of trauma-related symptomatology in Gulf War veterans. The second part is an investigation of memory function and hippocampal volume in Gulf War veterans who meet criteria for pos-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Results of the researchers’ previous work with a cohort of Gulf War veterans indicated that there was an overall increase in PTSD symptomatology in the veterans over the first two years following the Gulf War. With regard to memory testing, there were many instances of inconsistent recall for events that were objective and highly traumatic in nature. The data do not support the position that traumatic memories are fixed or indelible and suggest that as PTSD symptomatology increases, so does amplification of memory for traumatic events. This study continues the original methodology for the fifth, sixth and seventh post-war years. It is anticipated that a high percentage of subjects who have already participated in this research can be recruited to continue in this project and that at least 100 new subjects can also be recruited. It is anticipated that a better understanding of the longitudinal course of trauma-related symptomatology and risk factors for the development and maintenance of these symptoms would have implications for treatment. The second part of the study will examine the possibility that memory deficits in the subject population are relatively broad-based and reflect problems at several levels of information processing, including acquisition, retention and/or retrieval and that these memory deficits may be related to decreased hippocampal volume. Results of this study would make it possible to determine whether these abnormalities are present in a variety of combat populations and whether such abnormalities can be detected at earlier stages than in the previously-studied Vietnam veteran population. Potential relationship to clinical symptomatology and psychosocial functioning will also be investigated.

EXPECTED PRODUCTS/MILESTONES: We expect to show that memory for traumatic events is not consistent over time, and that there may be associated decrease in hippocampal volume in PTSD.

STATUS/RESULTS TO DATE:

PUBLICATIONS none to date

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