MRI Signature of Brain Age Underlying Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in World Trade Center Responders

Details

• Journal Article:
  Translational Psychiatry
• Personal Author:
  Invernizzi, Azzurra ; La Rosa, Francesco ; Sather, Anna ; Rechtman, Elza ; Nabeel, Ismail ; Morrison, R. Sean ; Pellecchia, Alison C. ; Santiago-Michels, Stephanie ; Bromet, Evelyn J. ; Lucchini, Roberto G. ; Luft, Benjamin J. ; Clouston, Sean A. P. ; Beck, Erin S. ; Tang, Cheuk Y. ; Horton, Megan K.
• Description:
  Approximately 23% of the men and women who participated in rescue and recovery efforts at the 9/11 World Trade Center (WTC) site experience persistent, clinically significant post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Recent structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies demonstrate significant neural differences between WTC responders with and without PTSD. Here, we used brain age, a novel MRI-based data-driven biomarker optimized to detect accelerated structural aging and examined the impact of PTSD on this process. Using BrainAgeNeX, a novel convolutional neural network that bypasses brain parcellation and has been trained and validated on over 11,000 T1-weighted MRI scans, we predicted brain age in WTC responders with PTSD (WTC-PTSD, n = 47) and age/sex matched responders without PTSD (non-PTSD, n = 52). Brain Age Difference (BAD) was then calculated for each WTC responder by subtracting chronological age from brain age. We found that BAD was significantly older in WTC-PTSD compared to non-PTSD responders (BADno_PTSD = -0.43 y; BADWTC_PTSD = 3.07 y; p < 0.001). Further, we found that WTC exposure duration (months working on site) moderates the association between PTSD and BAD (p = 0.005). Our results suggest that brain age is a relevant marker of structural damage in WTC responders with and without PTSD. PTSD may be a risk factor for accelerated aging in trauma-exposed populations. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aging, Premature Magnetic Resonance Imaging Occupational Health Safety September 11 Terrorist Attacks Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
• Keywords:
  World Trade Center; WTC; First responders; Post-traumatic stress disorder; PTSD; MRI; Magnetic resonance imaging; Biomarkers; Neural networks; Aging
• Source:
  Transl Psychiatry 2026 Jan; 16:13
• ISSN:
  2158-3188
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement ; Contract
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; New York City Region [OSHA] ; New York City, NY
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  10 pdf pages
• Volume:
  16
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20071676
• Contact Point Address:
  Azzurra Invernizzi, Department of Environmental Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
• Email:
  azzurra.invernizzi@mssm.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2026
• Performing Organization:
  Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20160901
• End Date:
  20200831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:942b36b1178e81640779ba62e5c7b3c9c3cf99773dcf6881578fb8d743eee2d798fb0f4dac78832a91e49da334494f13e7575bc334b4b2fb8b4a5ce618a40e51
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/259448/cdc_259448_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.11 MB ]