Association of Psychological Resilience With Decelerated Brain Aging in Cognitively Healthy World Trade Center Responders
Background: Despite their exposure to potentially traumatic stressors, the majority of World Trade Center (WTC) responders—those who worked on rescue, recovery, and cleanup efforts on or following September 11, 2001—have shown psychological resilience, never developing long-term psychopathology. Psy...
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Elsevier
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667174325000436 |
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| author | Saren H. Seeley Rachel Fremont Zoe Schreiber Laurel S. Morris Leah Cahn James W. Murrough Daniela Schiller Dennis S. Charney Robert H. Pietrzak M. Mercedes Perez-Rodriguez Adriana Feder |
| author_facet | Saren H. Seeley Rachel Fremont Zoe Schreiber Laurel S. Morris Leah Cahn James W. Murrough Daniela Schiller Dennis S. Charney Robert H. Pietrzak M. Mercedes Perez-Rodriguez Adriana Feder |
| author_sort | Saren H. Seeley |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Despite their exposure to potentially traumatic stressors, the majority of World Trade Center (WTC) responders—those who worked on rescue, recovery, and cleanup efforts on or following September 11, 2001—have shown psychological resilience, never developing long-term psychopathology. Psychological resilience may be protective against the earlier age-related cognitive changes associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in this cohort. In the current study, we calculated the difference between estimated brain age from structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data and chronological age in WTC responders who participated in a parent functional MRI study of resilience (N = 97). We hypothesized that highly resilient responders would show the least brain aging and explored associations between brain aging and psychological and cognitive measures. Method: WTC responders screened for the absence of cognitive impairment were classified into 3 groups: a WTC-related PTSD group (n = 32), a Highly Resilient group without lifetime psychopathology despite high WTC-related exposure (n = 34), and a Lower WTC-Exposed control group also without lifetime psychopathology (n = 31). We used BrainStructureAges, a deep learning algorithm that estimates voxelwise age from T1-weighted MRI data to calculate decelerated (or accelerated) brain aging relative to chronological age. Results: Globally, brain aging was decelerated in the Highly Resilient group and accelerated in the PTSD group, with a significant group difference (p = .021, Cohen’s d = 0.58); the Lower WTC-Exposed control group exhibited no significant brain age gap or group difference. Lesser brain aging was associated with resilience-linked factors including lower emotional suppression, greater optimism, and better verbal learning. Conclusions: Cognitively healthy WTC responders show differences in brain aging related to resilience and PTSD. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1c7be67e61fb4eccac1449ffa53af38d |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2667-1743 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science |
| spelling | doaj-art-1c7be67e61fb4eccac1449ffa53af38d2025-08-20T02:16:18ZengElsevierBiological Psychiatry Global Open Science2667-17432025-07-015410048910.1016/j.bpsgos.2025.100489Association of Psychological Resilience With Decelerated Brain Aging in Cognitively Healthy World Trade Center RespondersSaren H. Seeley0Rachel Fremont1Zoe Schreiber2Laurel S. Morris3Leah Cahn4James W. Murrough5Daniela Schiller6Dennis S. Charney7Robert H. Pietrzak8M. Mercedes Perez-Rodriguez9Adriana Feder10Depression and Anxiety Center for Discovery and Treatment, Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York; Address correspondence to Saren H. Seeley, Ph.D.Depression and Anxiety Center for Discovery and Treatment, Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New YorkDepression and Anxiety Center for Discovery and Treatment, Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New YorkDepression and Anxiety Center for Discovery and Treatment, Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New YorkDepression and Anxiety Center for Discovery and Treatment, Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New YorkDepression and Anxiety Center for Discovery and Treatment, Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York; Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York; VISN 2 Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center, James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Bronx, New YorkDepartment of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York; Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New YorkDepression and Anxiety Center for Discovery and Treatment, Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York; Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York; Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York; Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New YorkDepartment of Veterans Affairs National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Veterans Affairs Connecticut Health Care System, West Haven, Connecticut; Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, ConnecticutDepartment of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New YorkDepression and Anxiety Center for Discovery and Treatment, Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New YorkBackground: Despite their exposure to potentially traumatic stressors, the majority of World Trade Center (WTC) responders—those who worked on rescue, recovery, and cleanup efforts on or following September 11, 2001—have shown psychological resilience, never developing long-term psychopathology. Psychological resilience may be protective against the earlier age-related cognitive changes associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in this cohort. In the current study, we calculated the difference between estimated brain age from structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data and chronological age in WTC responders who participated in a parent functional MRI study of resilience (N = 97). We hypothesized that highly resilient responders would show the least brain aging and explored associations between brain aging and psychological and cognitive measures. Method: WTC responders screened for the absence of cognitive impairment were classified into 3 groups: a WTC-related PTSD group (n = 32), a Highly Resilient group without lifetime psychopathology despite high WTC-related exposure (n = 34), and a Lower WTC-Exposed control group also without lifetime psychopathology (n = 31). We used BrainStructureAges, a deep learning algorithm that estimates voxelwise age from T1-weighted MRI data to calculate decelerated (or accelerated) brain aging relative to chronological age. Results: Globally, brain aging was decelerated in the Highly Resilient group and accelerated in the PTSD group, with a significant group difference (p = .021, Cohen’s d = 0.58); the Lower WTC-Exposed control group exhibited no significant brain age gap or group difference. Lesser brain aging was associated with resilience-linked factors including lower emotional suppression, greater optimism, and better verbal learning. Conclusions: Cognitively healthy WTC responders show differences in brain aging related to resilience and PTSD.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667174325000436Brain agingCognitive agingPTSDResilienceStructural MRIWorld Trade Center responders |
| spellingShingle | Saren H. Seeley Rachel Fremont Zoe Schreiber Laurel S. Morris Leah Cahn James W. Murrough Daniela Schiller Dennis S. Charney Robert H. Pietrzak M. Mercedes Perez-Rodriguez Adriana Feder Association of Psychological Resilience With Decelerated Brain Aging in Cognitively Healthy World Trade Center Responders Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science Brain aging Cognitive aging PTSD Resilience Structural MRI World Trade Center responders |
| title | Association of Psychological Resilience With Decelerated Brain Aging in Cognitively Healthy World Trade Center Responders |
| title_full | Association of Psychological Resilience With Decelerated Brain Aging in Cognitively Healthy World Trade Center Responders |
| title_fullStr | Association of Psychological Resilience With Decelerated Brain Aging in Cognitively Healthy World Trade Center Responders |
| title_full_unstemmed | Association of Psychological Resilience With Decelerated Brain Aging in Cognitively Healthy World Trade Center Responders |
| title_short | Association of Psychological Resilience With Decelerated Brain Aging in Cognitively Healthy World Trade Center Responders |
| title_sort | association of psychological resilience with decelerated brain aging in cognitively healthy world trade center responders |
| topic | Brain aging Cognitive aging PTSD Resilience Structural MRI World Trade Center responders |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667174325000436 |
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