Polygenic scores for empathy associate with posttraumatic stress severity in response to certain traumatic events.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is triggered by environmental stressors. Empathy may predispose an individual to respond to life events differently if high empathizers are emotionally more sensitive to trauma. For the first time, we test this hypothesis using genetic information.

Methods

We applied polygenic scoring (PGS) to investigate the shared genetics linking empathy (measured using the Empathy Quotient (EQ), a self-report measure of empathy; N = 46,861) and PTSD symptom severity (measured using the 6-item PTSD Checklist 6-item (PCL-6)) in the UK Biobank (N = 126,219). Follow-up analyses were performed in the context of (1) experiencing any of 16 potential traumas, (2) the total number of traumas endorsed, and (3) the context of trauma. Autism, depressio

SUBMITTER: Wendt FR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8881478 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature