Original articleSalivary Cortisol and Psychopathology in Children Bereaved by the September 11, 2001 Terror Attacks
Section snippets
Subjects
Seventy-nine children (45 bereaved from 23 families, 34 nonbereaved from 25 families) were recruited from the community near New York City metropolitan area after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Bereaved children suffered sudden, unexpected death of one parent during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. To compare rates of psychopathology before and after September 11, 2001 in a representative sample of bereaved and nonbereaved children, those with psychopathology prior to
Psychiatric Disorders
Prior to September 11, 2001, 31.8% of bereaved children had at least one lifetime psychiatric disorder, a rate similar to that for nonbereaved children (35.3%). Most frequent psychiatric disorders were anxiety and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder for bereaved (13.6% and 13.6%, respectively) and nonbereaved (17.7% and 17.7%, respectively) children (Table 1).
After September 11, 2001, during the 2-year study, significantly more bereaved (72.7%) compared with nonbereaved (35.3%) children
Discussion
This prospective longitudinal study identified significant differences in HPA axis function and prevalence of psychiatric disorders throughout this 2-year study among children who experienced sudden, unexpected parent death during the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 compared with nonbereaved children. This is among the few studies that empirically evaluated longitudinal relationships between bereaved children’s salivary cortisol and psychiatric disorders.
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2018, NeuronCitation Excerpt :Third, previous studies have shown that AHA-projecting LS neurons regulate the function of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis as well as corticosterone levels via presumptive di-synaptic disinhibitory connections with the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) (Anthony et al., 2014; Herman et al., 2002). In addition, many clinical and preclinical reports have suggested that early adversity is characterized by lifelong disruptions of the homeostatic mechanisms that regulate the HPA axis (Enthoven et al., 2008; Lyons et al., 1998; Pfeffer et al., 2007). Thus, ESD may exert at least some of its effects by altering the activity of AHA-projecting Drd3LS neurons, which would then contribute to the dysregulation of the HPA axis.