Variant in RGS2 moderates posttraumatic stress symptoms following potentially traumatic event exposure
Section snippets
Data collection and sample
This study examines data from 607 participants in the 2004 Florida Hurricanes Study who completed structured telephone interviews and provided saliva samples that yielded genotype data for the rs4606 polymorphism. Methodological details for the Florida Hurricanes Study are provided elsewhere (Acierno et al., 2007, Acierno et al., 2006; Galea et al., 2006, Kilpatrick et al., 2007). Demographic characteristics of the 607 sample participants were as follows: 64.9% women; 35.1% men; 22.6% ≤59 years
Results
Average number of posthurricane PTSD symptoms reported among those who provided valid genotype data for rs4606 in RGS2 (N = 607) was 1.62 (S.D. = 2.76), and the average number of lifetime PTSD symptoms reported was 3.16 (S.D. = 3.61). Thirty-seven percent of individuals (N = 224) endorsed low social support, and was associated with posthurricane and lifetime PTSD symptoms (r's = .24, .28, respectively, P's < .001). Similarly, stressor exposure was associated with PTSD symptom counts. High hurricane
Discussion
Our results demonstrate that rs4606, a polymorphism in the RGS2 gene, moderates the risk of PTSD symptom severity under high environmental stress conditions of low social support and high hurricane exposure (or PTE). To our knowledge, this is the first study to date that examines RGS2 through a G × E model in a population-based human sample in relation to PTSD. Consistent with Leygraf et al. (2006) but (in terms of the identity of the associated allele) not with Smoller et al. (2008), the ‘C’
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflicting financial or other competing interests.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by NIMH grant MH05220 (principal investigator: Ron Acierno, Ph.D.). Dr. Amstadter is supported by US-NIMH 083469. Dr. Koenen is supported by NIMH grants K08-MH070627 and MH078928.
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