Clinical Correlates of Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Military Personnel with Adulthood-Onset War-Related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

AI Summary

Greater PTSD and anxiety severity associated with decreased connectivity between default mode network and frontoparietal network.
Increased PTSD severity linked to higher nodal clustering coefficient of the inferior parietal lobule within the default mode network.
Greater anxiety severity and longer time since trauma associated with increased connectivity involving visual networks, suggesting visual network as target for comorbid anxiety treatment.

AI Summary

BACKGROUND: Investigation of the neural substrates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in military personnel using whole-brain approaches remains scarce, hindering the development of circuit-based neuromodulatory interventions.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to identify potential associations between clinical symptoms and whole-brain resting-state functional connectivity with magnetic resonance imaging in military personnel with adulthood-onset war-related PTSD.

Greater severity of anxiety symptoms and longer time since trauma was the only clinical variables that correlated with higher connectivity patterns, all involving the visual networks (the frontoparietal-visual, the visual-DMN, and within-visual networks).

Basic summary

Brain Connect. 2026 Jun 13:21580014261456366. doi: 10.1177/21580014261456366. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

METHODS: Thirty-seven soldiers from the Canadian Armed Forces with moderate to severe treatment-resistant PTSD participated in this study. We assessed PTSD, anxiety and depressive symptoms, quality of life, and time since trauma. We characterized the whole-brain functional connectome using independent component analysis and regions of interest (ROI)-to-ROI connectivity, as well as its topology using graph theory.

RESULTS: Greater severity of PTSD and anxiety symptoms was associated with lower connectivity (r < 0) between the default mode network (DMN) and frontoparietal network. Greater severity of PTSD symptoms was also associated with a higher nodal clustering coefficient of the inferior parietal lobule from the DMN. Greater severity of anxiety symptoms and longer time since trauma was the only clinical variables that correlated with higher connectivity patterns, all involving the visual networks (the frontoparietal-visual, the visual-DMN, and within-visual networks).

CONCLUSIONS: This work contributes to identifying brain targets for the development of personalized neuromodulatory interventions. In particular, the DMN may be a promising target to alleviate PTSD symptoms, and the visual network may be a target to treat comorbid anxiety symptoms.

PMID:42287083 | DOI:10.1177/21580014261456366

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