Association of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in Children and HPA Axis Regulation

Over the past decades, numerous findings have shown that exposure to stress or trauma during the critical period of early development can elicit adverse impacts on the psychological processes and physiological functioning of the body. Precisely, early life stress is associated with a greater risk of developing mental disorders or physical conditions later in life. Accordingly, early life adversity may alter children’s regulation of secretion of neurobiological substrates, as well as influence the sensitivity of their response to stimuli such as stressors. Children who encountered a traumatic event, such as natural disasters, sexual or physical abuse, may develop Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which may in turn disturbed the development of HPA axis and other neuroendocrinal systems which regulate the body’s response to stressors. However, the degree and manner of which childhood stress impacts the regulation of the HPA axis remain unclear and conflicted. Several studies have reported that abused children demonstrated substantially higher morning cortisol levels, which is regulated by the HPA axis, than non abused children. Other studies, however, have shown contradicting resultsKeywords: Adolescent, childhood trauma, corticotropins, cortisol, HPA axis regulation, post-traumatic stress disorder.