2025-12-08 マウントサイナイ医療システム (MSHS)
<関連情報>
- https://www.mountsinai.org/about/newsroom/2025/mount-sinai-study-finds-ptsd-may-accelerate-brain-aging-in-9-11-responders
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-025-03769-7
世界貿易センターの救助隊員の心的外傷後ストレス障害の根底にある脳年齢のMRIシグネチャー MRI signature of brain age underlying post-traumatic stress disorder in World Trade Center responders
Azzurra Invernizzi,Francesco La Rosa,Anna Sather,Elza Rechtman,Ismail Nabeel,R. Sean Morrison,Alison C. Pellecchia,Stephanie Santiago-Michels,Evelyn J. Bromet,Roberto G. Lucchini,Benjamin J. Luft,Sean A. Clouston,Erin S. Beck,Cheuk Y. Tang & Megan K. Horton
Translational Psychiatry Published:28 November 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-025-03769-7
We are providing an unedited version of this manuscript to give early access to its findings. Before final publication, the manuscript will undergo further editing. Please note there may be errors present which affect the content, and all legal disclaimers apply.
Abstract
Approximately 23% of the men and women who participated in rescue and recovery efforts at the 9/11 World Trade Center (WTC) site experience persistent, clinically significant post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Recent structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies demonstrate significant neural differences between WTC responders with and without PTSD. Here, we used brain age, a novel MRI-based data-driven biomarker optimized to detect accelerated structural aging and examined the impact of PTSD on this process. Using BrainAgeNeX, a novel convolutional neural network that bypasses brain parcellation and has been trained and validated on over 11,000 T1-weighted MRI scans, we predicted brain age in WTC responders with PTSD (WTC-PTSD, n = 47) and age/sex matched responders without PTSD (non-PTSD, n = 52). Brain Age Difference (BAD) was then calculated for each WTC responder by subtracting chronological age from brain age. We found that BAD was significantly older in WTC-PTSD compared to non-PTSD responders (BADno_PTSD = -0.43 y; BADWTC_PTSD = 3.07 y; p < 0.001). Further, we found that WTC exposure duration (months working on site) moderates the association between PTSD and BAD (p = 0.005). Our results suggest that brain age is a relevant marker of structural damage in WTC responders with and without PTSD. PTSD may be a risk factor for accelerated aging in trauma-exposed populations.
