{"id":215483,"date":"2022-08-22T15:00:33","date_gmt":"2022-08-22T19:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/?post_type=bu-article&#038;p=215483"},"modified":"2022-08-22T15:03:41","modified_gmt":"2022-08-22T19:03:41","slug":"hepatitis-c-drugs-may-reduce-ptsd-symptoms","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2022\/hepatitis-c-drugs-may-reduce-ptsd-symptoms\/","title":{"rendered":"Hepatitis C Drugs May Reduce PTSD Symptoms"},"content":{"rendered":"\t<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin sphnews-block-editorial-leadin is-style-text-over-image has-media has-box has-media-focus-center-middle has-text-position-x-right has-dark-theme\">\n\t\t<div class=\"container-lockup\">\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-leadin-media\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"2560\" height=\"1700\" src=\"\/sph\/files\/2022\/08\/ptsdhc-scaled.jpg\" class=\"\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/08\/ptsdhc-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/08\/ptsdhc-636x422.jpg 636w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/08\/ptsdhc-1024x680.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/08\/ptsdhc-768x510.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/08\/ptsdhc-1536x1020.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/08\/ptsdhc-2048x1360.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/08\/ptsdhc-755x501.jpg 755w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/08\/ptsdhc-1506x1000.jpg 1506w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/08\/ptsdhc-450x300.jpg 450w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/08\/ptsdhc-900x598.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/08\/ptsdhc-1920x1275.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/08\/ptsdhc-1200x797.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-outer\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-inner has-opacity-70\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"wp-prepress-tag\">PTSD<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"head\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHepatitis C Drugs May Reduce PTSD Symptoms\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"deck\">A new study among US veterans found that certain direct-acting antivirals used to treat hepatitis C virus infection may also improve symptoms of PTSD, potentially filling the dearth of FDA-approved treatments for one of the most prevalent mental health conditions in the US.<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar sphnews-prepress-layout-metabar\">\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-date\">August 22, 2022<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-credits\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul data-credit-type=\"By\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/authors\/jillian-mckoy\/\">Jillian McKoy<\/a><\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-share js-bu-prepress-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-action\"><\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\n<p>More than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ptsd.va.gov\/understand\/common\/common_adults.asp#:~:text=About%2012%20million%20adults%20in,about%20women%2C%20trauma%20and%20PTSD.\">six percent<\/a> of Americans will develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in their lifetime. This potentially chronic condition disrupts lives, and can lead to or exacerbate existing health issues such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and suicidal thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the high prevalence of PTSD, the US Food and Drug Administration has only approved two medications to treat this condition\u2014sertraline and paroxetine\u2014and both have shown only limited effectiveness in reducing PTSD symptoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PTSD is also common among military veterans; more than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ptsd.va.gov\/understand\/common\/common_veterans.asp\">10 percent<\/a> of US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) patients experience these symptoms. Two years ago, researchers at the School of Public Health and the White River Junction Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Vermont began to investigate whether existing medications may improve PTSD symptoms, with funding from the National Institute of Mental Health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During an initial exploratory analysis among a national cohort of VA patients, the researchers unexpectedly found that several new direct acting antiviral (DAA) medications used to treat hepatitis C virus infection were associated with PTSD symptom improvement. The findings were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com\/article\/S0006-3223(21)01674-7\/fulltext\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">published in the journal <em>Biological Psychiatry<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, in a new, follow-up study, the researchers have conducted a more rigorous analysis to examine and compare the effectiveness of the previously identified DAAs in PTSD symptom improvement. Their new analysis suggests the most promising DAA for prospective study as a potential medication for PTSD in patients without hepatitis C virus infection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/aje\/advance-article\/doi\/10.1093\/aje\/kwac104\/6605717\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Published online ahead of print in the <em>American Journal of Epidemiology<\/em>,<\/a> the new study found that the medication combination glecaprevir and pibrentasvir had the strongest association with PTSD symptom improvement among the DAAs most prescribed in the VA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMany people have PTSD, but there few effective pharmacologic treatments and limited drug development for PTSD,\u201d says co-principal investigator and study senior author <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/profile\/jaimie-gradus\/\">Jaimie Gradus<\/a>, associate professor of epidemiology. \u201cExisting effective treatments are mostly psychotherapy, and while they work well, there are also issues with them, including a lot of treatment drop-out and they\u2019re time-intensive, so adding to the suite of treatment options for people is a high priority.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The researchers examined the same national cohort of VA patients as the prior study, but narrowed the study group to include only patients diagnosed with hepatitis C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere really has been a lot of interest in finding new medications for PTSD in the field,\u201d says co-principal investigator <a href=\"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/faculty\/facultydb\/view.php\/?uid=3915\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Brian Shiner<\/a>, a psychiatrist and acting associate chief of staff for research at the White River Junction VA Medical Center, as well as associate professor of psychiatry at Dartmouth University\u2019s Geisel School of Medicine. \u201cThe idea to look at VA data in this way grew out of a conversation in the scientific literature between the VA PTSD Psychopharmacology Working Group and the National Institutes of Mental Health. Paula Schnurr from the National Center for PTSD connected Jaimie and I, and we were really fortunate to obtain funding to bring a team together to do this work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Using patient care data from VA medical records, Gradus, Shiner, and colleagues from SPH, the VA, Geisel, and Harvard Medical School studied 254 VA patients who were diagnosed with PTSD and hepatitis C between October 1999 and September 2019. The participants received one combination of FDA-approved hepatitis C medications, including glecaprevir and pibrentasvir (GLE\/PIB); ledipasvir and sofosbuvir (LDV\/SOF); or sofosbuvir and velpatasvir (SOF\/VEL). The researchers monitored the patients\u2019 symptoms for both PTSD and HCV between two clinical visits over 8 to 12 weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After adjusting for variables that could potentially influence results\u2014such as opioid prescription use, liver disease diagnoses, emergency department care for psychiatric crises\u2014the team found that the GLE\/PIB medications were more strongly associated with PTSD symptom improvement that the LDV\/SOF and SOF\/VEL treatments, consistent with their previous results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAt BUSPH, we have been working with our VA colleagues to look at PTSD symptom improvement in routine care using medical records for several years,\u201d Gradus says. \u201cThe level of improvement we see for GLE\/PIB is impressive and over twice what we have seen for paroxetine and sertraline. I think we have done the best we can with medical records data, an important next step in this line of work will be a prospective placebo-controlled study in patients without hepatitis C virus infection.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe recently received funding from the Department of Defense to study GLE\/PIB as a potential treatment for PTSD in a prospective randomized placebo-controlled trial,\u201d Shiner says. He and Gradus will be involved with the project, and Vince Watts of the White River Junction VA Medical Center will serve as principal investigator. \u201cIt will be several years until we see the results, but this is a very exciting case where we used VA patient data to identify a potential treatment for PTSD, which is a very important problem for veterans\u2019 health. In this way, veterans have informed PTSD treatment development.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories is-style-card has-two sphnews-block-editorial-relatedstories\">\n\t\t<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-title\">Related<\/h3>\n\t\t<ul class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-list\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-list-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<article class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article-image\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"400\" height=\"241\" src=\"\/sph\/files\/2020\/04\/jaimie-gradus-400x241.png\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Headshot of Jaimie Gradus\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article-content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article-category\"><span>Featured<\/span><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2020\/professor-receives-2-3-million-to-explore-medications-for-ptsd\/\" class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article-title-link\">Professor Receives $2.3 Million to Explore Medications for PTSD<\/a><\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article-date\">May 11, 2020<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-list-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<article class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article-image\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"2560\" height=\"2311\" src=\"\/sph\/files\/2020\/12\/Streamlining-PTSD-Diagnosis-with-Machine-Learning-Veterans-original-1-scaled.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Young sad military officer sitting at doctor&#039;s office during his psychotherapy.\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2020\/12\/Streamlining-PTSD-Diagnosis-with-Machine-Learning-Veterans-original-1-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2020\/12\/Streamlining-PTSD-Diagnosis-with-Machine-Learning-Veterans-original-1-636x574.jpg 636w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2020\/12\/Streamlining-PTSD-Diagnosis-with-Machine-Learning-Veterans-original-1-1024x924.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2020\/12\/Streamlining-PTSD-Diagnosis-with-Machine-Learning-Veterans-original-1-768x693.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2020\/12\/Streamlining-PTSD-Diagnosis-with-Machine-Learning-Veterans-original-1-1536x1387.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2020\/12\/Streamlining-PTSD-Diagnosis-with-Machine-Learning-Veterans-original-1-2048x1849.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2020\/12\/Streamlining-PTSD-Diagnosis-with-Machine-Learning-Veterans-original-1-755x682.jpg 755w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2020\/12\/Streamlining-PTSD-Diagnosis-with-Machine-Learning-Veterans-original-1-1108x1000.jpg 1108w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2020\/12\/Streamlining-PTSD-Diagnosis-with-Machine-Learning-Veterans-original-1-900x812.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2020\/12\/Streamlining-PTSD-Diagnosis-with-Machine-Learning-Veterans-original-1-1920x1733.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2020\/12\/Streamlining-PTSD-Diagnosis-with-Machine-Learning-Veterans-original-1-1200x1083.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article-content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article-category\"><span>PTSD<\/span><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2020\/streamlining-ptsd-diagnosis-with-machine-learning\/\" class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article-title-link\">Streamlining PTSD Diagnosis with Machine Learning<\/a><\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article-date\">October 28, 2020<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More than six percent of Americans will develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in their lifetime. This potentially chronic condition disrupts lives, and can lead to or exacerbate existing health issues such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and suicidal thoughts. Despite the high prevalence of PTSD, the US Food and Drug Administration has only approved two [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15205,"featured_media":215495,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"PTSD","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[509,1794,3891,1871,1793,1724,3887,2173,1619],"bu-publication":[3516],"sphnews-article-category":[3519,3530,3531,3540],"sphnews-topic":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"profile_tax":[2825],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/215483"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15205"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215483"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/215483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":215508,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/215483\/revisions\/215508"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215483"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=215483"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-article-category?post=215483"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-topic?post=215483"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=215483"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=215483"},{"taxonomy":"profile_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_tax?post=215483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}