J 2021

Lifelong impact of extreme stress on the human brain: Holocaust survivors study

FŇAŠKOVÁ, Monika, Pavel ŘÍHA, Marek PREISS, Petr BOB, Markéta NEČASOVÁ et. al.

Basic information

Original name

Lifelong impact of extreme stress on the human brain: Holocaust survivors study

Authors

FŇAŠKOVÁ, Monika (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution), Pavel ŘÍHA (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution), Marek PREISS (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution), Petr BOB (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution), Markéta NEČASOVÁ (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution), Eva KORIŤÁKOVÁ (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution) and Ivan REKTOR (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution)

Edition

NEUROBIOLOGY OF STRESS, NEW YORK, ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC, 2021, 2352-2895

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Článek v odborném periodiku

Field of Study

30103 Neurosciences

Country of publisher

United States of America

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

References:

Impact factor

Impact factor: 7.142

RIV identification code

RIV/00216224:14740/21:00124263

Organization unit

Central European Institute of Technology

UT WoS

000651603900007

Keywords in English

Holocaust survivors; MRI; Posttraumatic stress; Posttraumatic growth; Lifelong impact

Tags

International impact, Reviewed
Změněno: 17/10/2024 10:14, Mgr. Adéla Pešková

Abstract

V originále

Background: We aimed to assess the lifelong impact of extreme stress on people who survived the Holocaust. We hypothesised that the impact of extreme trauma is detectable even after more than 70 years of an often complicated and stressful post-war life. Methods: Psychological testing was performed on 44 Holocaust survivors (HS; median age 81.5 years; 29 women; 26 HS were under the age of 12 years in 1945) and 31 control participants without a personal or family history of the Holocaust (control group (CG); median 80 years; 17 women). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using the 3T Siemens Prisma scanner was performed on 29 HS (median 79 years; 18 women) and 21 CG participants (median 80 years; 11 women). The MRI-tested subgroup that had been younger than 12 years old in 1945 was composed of 20 HS (median 79 years; 17 women) and 21 CG (median 80 years; 11 women). Results: HS experienced significantly higher frequency of depression symptoms, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and posttraumatic growth, and lower levels of well-being. The MRI shows a lifelong neurobiological effect of extreme stress. The areas with reduced grey matter correspond to the map of the impact of stress on the brain structure: insula, anterior cingulate, ventromedial cortex including the subgenual cingulate/orbitofrontal cortex, temporal pole, prefrontal cortex, and angular gyrus. HS showed good adjustment to post-war life conditions. Psychological growth may contribute to compensation for the psychological and neurobiological consequences of extreme stress. The reduction of GM was significantly expressed also in the subgroup of participants who survived the Holocaust during their childhood. Conclusion: The lifelong psychological and neurobiological changes in people who survived extreme stress were identified more than 70 years after the Holocaust. Extreme stress in childhood and young adulthood has an irreversible lifelong impact on the brain.

Links

90062, large research infrastructures
Name: Czech-BioImaging