Language

English

Publication Date

7-22-2025

Journal

European Psychiatry

DOI

10.1192/j.eurpsy.2025.10062

PMID

40692500

PMCID

PMC12344465

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

7-22-2025

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Abstract

Background: Patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) exhibit smaller regional brain volumes in commonly reported regions including the amygdala and hippocampus, regions associated with fear and memory processing. In the current study, we have conducted a voxel-based morphometry (VBM) meta-analysis using whole-brain statistical maps with neuroimaging data from the ENIGMA-PGC PTSD working group.

Methods: T1-weighted structural neuroimaging scans from 36 cohorts (PTSD n = 1309; controls n = 2198) were processed using a standardized VBM pipeline (ENIGMA-VBM tool). We meta-analyzed the resulting statistical maps for voxel-wise differences in gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) volumes between PTSD patients and controls, performed subgroup analyses considering the trauma exposure of the controls, and examined associations between regional brain volumes and clinical variables including PTSD (CAPS-4/5, PCL-5) and depression severity (BDI-II, PHQ-9).

Results: PTSD patients exhibited smaller GM volumes across the frontal and temporal lobes, and cerebellum, with the most significant effect in the left cerebellum (Hedges' g = 0.22, pcorrected = .001), and smaller cerebellar WM volume (peak Hedges' g = 0.14, pcorrected = .008). We observed similar regional differences when comparing patients to trauma-exposed controls, suggesting these structural abnormalities may be specific to PTSD. Regression analyses revealed PTSD severity was negatively associated with GM volumes within the cerebellum (p corrected = .003), while depression severity was negatively associated with GM volumes within the cerebellum and superior frontal gyrus in patients (p corrected = .001).

Conclusions: PTSD patients exhibited widespread, regional differences in brain volumes where greater regional deficits appeared to reflect more severe symptoms. Our findings add to the growing literature implicating the cerebellum in PTSD psychopathology.

Keywords

Humans, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Gray Matter, Adult, Male, Female, White Matter, Neuroimaging, Middle Aged, Cerebellum, Brain, brain structure, gray matter volume, neuroimaging, PTSD, trauma, voxel-based morphometry

Published Open-Access

yes

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