Neurological and Psychological Effects of Combat-Related Stress

Tel Aviv University100 enrolled

Overview

The purpose of this study is to determine what is the neurological and cognitive impact of combat exposure and prolonged stress, in the form of service in the Israeli Defense Forces.

Attention biases in threat processing have been assigned a prominent role in the etiology and maintenance of anxiety disorders. This study aimed to characterize the mental resilience of combat soldiers, and explore the neuro-cognitive impact of prolonged stress, using eye-tracking, MRI and fMRI measurements. Participants will be assessed using questionnaires, cognitive tasks and magnetic imaging at 5 timepoints over the span of 4 years. Outcome measures will be depression, anxiety and post-traumatic scores, as well as dwell time on threat in eye-tracking paradigms tested in previous studies, and blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signals in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurements.

Study Type

OBSERVATIONAL

Enrollment

100

Conditions

Stress Disorder, Posttraumatic Stress, Psychological

Interventions

Combat ExposureOTHER

Soldiers will be exposed to combat as part of their routine military service. The ROTC students will not be exposed to combat.

Eligibility

Sex: MALEMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 23 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Soldiers in the paratroopers brigade or students in Tel-Aviv University; * A signed consent form; * Hebrew native speakers. Exclusion Criteria: * A diagnosis of a neurological disorder (i.e., epilepsy, brain injury); * Drug or alcohol abuse; * Cannot undergo an MRI scan, due to metal implants or other metallic foreign bodies, claustrophobia, large tattoos or irremovable piercings; * Require glasses with a number greater than 7; * A diagnosis of psychotic or bipolar disorders.

Locations (1)

Tel Aviv University

Tel Aviv, Israel

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Change from baseline - PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) score

PCL is questionnaire assessing posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. It contains 20 items on a severity scale of 0-4, measuring the existence and severity of post-traumatic symptoms. The minimal score, indicating no post-traumatic stress, is 0. The maximal score is 80, indicating extremely severe post-traumatic stress.

Time frame: 4 years, from time point 1 to time point 5

Neurological measures - Gray matter volume

Gray matter volume, i.e. the density of brain cells in a particular region (outcome to be measured in cm3), to be derived from the MRI scans, and compared between the two groups across the various time points.

Time frame: 4 years, from time point 1 to time point 5

Neurological measures - Functional connectivity

Functional connectivity, indicating the level of synchronous activity of certain brain regions during rest (temporal correlation is usually expressed as a Pearson's r); Also to be derived from the MRI scans, and compared between the two groups across the various time points.

Time frame: 4 years, from time point 1 to time point 5

Neurological measures - Structural connectivity

Structural connectivity between regions of the brain (Diffusivity is measured as 10-3mm2.s-1) and the properties of the white matter (expressed with Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measures, mainly Fractional Anisotropy (FA) and Mean Diffusivity (MD)); Also be derived from the MRI scans, and compared between the two groups across the various time points.

Time frame: 4 years, from time point 1 to time point 5

Neurological measures - Task activations

Task activations, and specifically the areas activated during the dot-probe task, and how they change over time (expressed as the level of the BOLD signal strength change during the task). To be derived from the MRI scans, and compared between the two groups across the various time points.

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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