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To derive and initially validate a brief bedside clinical decision support tool that identifies emergency department patients at high risk of substantial, persistent posttraumatic stress symptoms after a motor vehicle collision.Derivation (n=1,282, 19 ED sites) and validation (n=282, 11 separate ED sites) data were obtained from adults prospectively enrolled in the Advancing Understanding of RecOvery afteR traumA study who were discharged from the ED after motor vehicle collision-related trauma. The primary outcome was substantial posttraumatic stress symptoms at 3 months (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5 ≥38). Logistic regression derivation models were evaluated for discriminative ability using the area under the curve and the accuracy of predicted risk probabilities (Brier score). Candidate posttraumatic stress predictors assessed in these models (n=265) spanned a range of sociodemographic, baseline health, peritraumatic, and mechanistic domains. The final model selection was based on performance and ease of administration.Significant 3-month posttraumatic stress symptoms were common in the derivation (27%) and validation (26%) cohort. The area under the curve and Brier score of the final 8-question tool were 0.82 and 0.14 in the derivation cohort and 0.76 and 0.17 in the validation cohort.This simple 8-question tool demonstrates promise to risk-stratify individuals with substantial posttraumatic stress symptoms who are discharged to home after a motor vehicle collision. Both external validation of this instrument, and work to further develop more accurate tools, are needed. Such tools might benefit public health by enabling the conduct of preventive intervention trials and assisting the growing number of EDs that provide services to trauma survivors aimed at promoting psychological recovery.

Dissociation, a disruption or discontinuity in psychological functioning, is often linked with worse psychiatric symptoms; however, the prognostic value of dissociation after trauma is inconsistent. Determining whether trauma-related dissociation is uniquely predictive of later outcomes would enable early identification of at-risk trauma populations. The authors conducted the largest prospective longitudinal biomarker study of persistent dissociation to date to determine its predictive capacity for adverse psychiatric outcomes following acute trauma.All data were part of the Freeze 2 data release from the Advancing Understanding of Recovery After Trauma (AURORA) study. Study participants provided self-report data about persistent derealization (N=1,464), a severe type of dissociation, and completed a functional MRI emotion reactivity task and resting-state scan 2 weeks posttrauma (N=145). Three-month follow-up reports were collected of posttraumatic stress, depression, pain, anxiety symptoms, and functional impairment.Derealization was associated with increased ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) activation in the emotion reactivity task and decreased resting-state vmPFC connectivity with the cerebellum and orbitofrontal cortex. In separate analyses, brain-based and self-report measures of persistent derealization at 2 weeks predicted worse 3-month posttraumatic stress symptoms, distinct from the effects of childhood maltreatment history and current posttraumatic stress symptoms.The findings suggest that persistent derealization is both an early psychological and biological marker of worse later psychiatric outcomes. The neural correlates of trauma-related dissociation may serve as potential targets for treatment engagement to prevent posttraumatic stress disorder. These results underscore dissociation assessment as crucial following trauma exposure to identify at-risk individuals, and they highlight an unmet clinical need for tailored early interventions.

Considerable racial/ethnic disparities persist in exposure to life stressors and socioeconomic resources that can directly affect threat neurocircuitry, particularly the amygdala, that partially mediates susceptibility to adverse posttraumatic outcomes. Limited work to date, however, has investigated potential racial/ethnic variability in amygdala reactivity or connectivity that may in turn be related to outcomes such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Participants from the AURORA study (n = 283), a multisite longitudinal study of trauma outcomes, completed functional magnetic resonance imaging and psychophysiology within approximately two-weeks of trauma exposure. Seed-based amygdala connectivity and amygdala reactivity during passive viewing of fearful and neutral faces were assessed during fMRI. Physiological activity was assessed during Pavlovian threat conditioning. Participants also reported the severity of posttraumatic symptoms 3 and 6 months after trauma. Black individuals showed lower baseline skin conductance levels and startle compared to White individuals, but no differences were observed in physiological reactions to threat. Further, Hispanic and Black participants showed greater amygdala connectivity to regions including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC), dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, insula, and cerebellum compared to White participants. No differences were observed in amygdala reactivity to threat. Amygdala connectivity was associated with 3-month PTSD symptoms, but the associations differed by racial/ethnic group and were partly driven by group differences in structural inequities. The present findings suggest variability in tonic neurophysiological arousal in the early aftermath of trauma between racial/ethnic groups, driven by structural inequality, impacts neural processes that mediate susceptibility to later PTSD symptoms.

Objective Whether short-term, low-potency opioid prescriptions for acute pain lead to future at-risk opioid use remains controversial and inadequately characterized. Our objective was to measure the association between emergency department (ED) opioid analgesic exposure after a physical, trauma-related event and subsequent opioid use. We hypothesized ED opioid analgesic exposure is associated with subsequent at-risk opioid use. Methods Participants were enrolled in AURORA, a prospective cohort study of adult patients in 29 U.S., urban EDs receiving care for a traumatic event. Exclusion criteria were hospital admission, persons reporting any non-medical opioid use (e.g., opioids without prescription or taking more than prescribed for euphoria) in the 30 days before enrollment, and missing or incomplete data regarding opioid exposure or pain. We used multivariable logistic regression to assess the relationship between ED opioid exposure and at-risk opioid use, defined as any self-reported non-medical opioid use after initial ED encounter or prescription opioid use at 3-months. Results Of 1441 subjects completing 3-month follow-up, 872 participants were included for analysis. At-risk opioid use occurred within 3 months in 33/620 (5.3%, CI: 3.7,7.4) participants without ED opioid analgesic exposure; 4/16 (25.0%, CI: 8.3, 52.6) with ED opioid prescription only; 17/146 (11.6%, CI: 7.1, 18.3) with ED opioid administration only; 12/90 (13.3%, CI: 7.4, 22.5) with both. Controlling for clinical factors, adjusted odds ratios (aORs) for at-risk opioid use after ED opioid exposure were: ED prescription only: 4.9 (95% CI 1.4, 17.4); ED administration for analgesia only: 2.0 (CI 1.0, 3.8); both: 2.8 (CI 1.2, 6.5). Conclusions ED opioids were associated with subsequent at-risk opioid use within three months in a geographically diverse cohort of adult trauma patients. This supports need for prospective studies focused on the long-term consequences of ED opioid analgesic exposure to estimate individual risk and guide therapeutic decision-making.

Study objective Ventricular paced rhythm is thought to obscure the electrocardiographic diagnosis of acute coronary occlusion myocardial infarction. Our primary aim was to compare the sensitivity of the modified Sgarbossa criteria (MSC) to that of the original Sgarbossa criteria for the diagnosis of occlusion myocardial infarction in patients with ventricular paced rhythm. Methods In this retrospective case-control investigation, we studied adult patients with ventricular paced rhythm and symptoms of acute coronary syndrome who presented in an emergency manner to 16 international cardiac referral centers between January 2008 and January 2018. The occlusion myocardial infarction group was defined angiographically as thrombolysis in myocardial infarction grade 0 to 1 flow or angiographic evidence of coronary thrombosis and peak cardiac troponin I ≥10.0 ng/mL or troponin T ≥1.0 ng/mL. There were 2 control groups: the "non-occlusion myocardial infarction-angio" group consisted of patients who underwent coronary angiography for presumed type I myocardial infarction but did not meet the definition of occlusion myocardial infarction; the "no occlusion myocardial infarction" control group consisted of randomly selected emergency department patients without occlusion myocardial infarction. Results There were 59 occlusion myocardial infarction, 90 non-occlusion myocardial infarction-angio, and 102 no occlusion myocardial infarction subjects (mean age, 72.0 years; 168 [66.9%] men). For the diagnosis of occlusion myocardial infarction, the MSC were more sensitive than the original Sgarbossa criteria (sensitivity 81% [95% confidence interval [CI] 69 to 90] versus 56% [95% CI 42 to 69]). Adding concordant ST-depression in V4 to V6 to the MSC yielded 86% (95% CI 75 to 94) sensitivity. For the no occlusion myocardial infarction control group of ED patients, additional test characteristics of MSC and original Sgarbossa criteria, respectively, were as follows: specificity 96% (95% CI 90 to 99) versus 97% (95% CI 92 to 99); negative likelihood ratio (LR) 0.19 (95% CI 0.11 to 0.33) versus 0.45 (95% CI 0.34 to 0.65); and positive LR 21 (95% CI 7.9 to 55) versus 19 (95% CI 6.1 to 59). For the non-occlusion myocardial infarction-angio control group, additional test characteristics of MSC and original Sgarbossa criteria, respectively, were as follows: specificity 84% (95% CI 76 to 91) versus 90% (95% CI 82 to 95); negative LR 0.22 (95% CI 0.13 to 0.38) versus 0.49 (95% CI 0.35 to 0.66); and positive LR 5.2 (95% CI 3.2 to 8.6) versus 5.6 (95% CI 2.9 to 11). Conclusion For the diagnosis of occlusion myocardial infarction in the presence of ventricular paced rhythm, the MSC were more sensitive than the original Sgarbossa criteria; specificity was high for both rules. The MSC may contribute to clinical decisionmaking for patients with ventricular paced rhythm.