Survivors may have lasting changes to their stress, immunological and cardiovascular functioning.
Terrorism may have lasting effects on biological stress, according to research on survivors of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
The research found that even if the participants had otherwise healthy lives, there were physiological traces of the event up to seven years later.
“The main takeaway from the study is that the mind may be resilient and be able to put things behind it, but the body doesn’t forget. It may remain on alert, waiting for the next thing to happen,” lead author Dr Phebe Tucker, professor emeritus of psychiatry at Oklahoma University, told media.
Dr Tucker and colleagues analysed data from 60 adults who survived the bombing, but were otherwise physically healthy, and compared their health outcomes to a control group of healthy locals who were unaffected by the bombing. Assessments were done seven years after the event, but newly analysed for this study.
Surprisingly, the bombing survivors had lower cortisol levels than the controls and a lower heart rate reactivity to trauma cues. The authors said the heart rate changes may be due to a blunted response to trauma.
Survivors had higher baseline diastolic blood pressure, and rates of interleukin 1B, which is linked with inflammation.
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Meanwhile, they had lower levels of interleukin 2R, which is protective against inflammation.
“We thought there would be a correlation between these biomarkers and the research participants’ psychological symptoms, but their PTSD and depression scores were not elevated and did not correlate with stress biomarkers,” Dr Tucker said.
“That tells us there is a stress response in the body that is not present in the emotions they express. In addition, the elevated interleukin 1B is typically seen in people with illnesses and inflammation, but this group was pretty healthy.
“However, it raises concerns about potential long-term health problems.”
The only significant difference the researchers found on subjective measures was that the survivors rated their general physical wellness worse than the controls.
Research shows victims of terrorist attacks have some distinct physiological changes compared with people who have been in other potentially traumatic events such as car crashes.
“Basically, what this paper shows is that after you’ve experienced severe trauma, your biological systems may not be at a typical baseline any longer; things have changed,” study co-author Dr Rachel Zettl, clinical assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioural sciences at Oklahoma University, told media.
“It’s not just our minds that remember trauma; our biological processes do, too. It changes your actual physical being.”
