Post-traumatic stress disorder affects more than just the mind, according to a new study led by scientists in San Diego.
Researchers combed through dozens of studies on PTSD and found common themes. Whether they acquired PTSD from war, natural disaster, sexual trauma or some other event, patients tended to develop age-related diseases such as cancer, type two diabetes and heart disease at a younger age.
A majority of studies on mortality showed they also tended to die earlier. Signs of accelerated aging could even be found on a cellular level. Telomeres — the protective caps on chromosomes that wear down over time — were significantly shorter in PTSD patients.
Senior author Dilip Jeste, a UC San Diego psychiatry professor, said in many cases just one traumatic event was linked with life-long physical harm.
"It's like a domino effect that continues through the rest of their life," he said. "And that's not something one would expect."
Jeste said higher suicide rates played a surprisingly small factor in the shortened lifespan of PTSD patients. The results suggest doctors should treat PTSD as a physical illness, in addition to a mental illness, he said.
"What we need for treatment is not just a psychiatric treatment, but a medical-psychiatric approach," he said.
Existing data can't determine whether PTSD causes premature aging, only that the two problems tend to co-exist in patients, Jeste said. Previous research has connected other psychological conditions, like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, with premature aging.
