PTSD sufferers ‘linked to higher diabetes risk’

A new study conducted in Germany has established a link between the presence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Scientists from the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen and the University Hospital Giessen and Marburg have suggested that a sustained activation of the hormonal stress axis due to chronic stress symptoms is responsible for this association.

As a result of the permanent stress that PTSD patients suffer, hormonal response patterns change over time, leading to metabolisms and the glucose utilisation processes being negatively impacted.

Follow-up studies can now focus in greater detail on how these temporal and causal relationships function.

Professor Karl-Heinz Ladwig, research group leader at the centre's Institute of Epidemiology II, said: "Patients with PTSD and other mental disorders should be given therapy that includes treatment of metabolic risk factors."

According to NHS data, PTSD affects up to 30 percent of people who experience a traumatic event, which could include military combat, road accidents, terrorist attacks, natural disasters or witnessing violent deaths.