Prospectively predicting PTSD status with heart rate reactivity and recovery in interpersonal violence survivors

The current study used heart rate (HR) reactivity to personalized trauma cues and HR recovery to predict later Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) status in female interpersonal violence survivors. A scripted imagery paradigm was used to assess initial (M = 1 month posttrauma) HR reactivity during exposure to and recovery following idiographic trauma cues. In addition, follow-up PTSD status (M = 8 months posttrauma) was assessed with the Clinician Administered PTSD scale (CAPS). A logistic regression was used to predict PTSD status at the follow-up assessment with HR reactivity during exposure to a personalized trauma audio script and recovery periods at initial assessment entered hierarchically. Script HR reactivity alone did not significantly predict PTSD status. However, after adding HR recovery, the model was significant. Higher HR during recovery was significantly positively associated with PTSD-positive status while script HR reactivity remained a non-significant predictor. The model correctly classified 70% of cases with PTSD. A second logistic regression with initial CAPS severity as a covariate showed that HR recovery added predictive value beyond acute PTSD symptoms. These results suggest that HR recovery following trauma cue exposure is an important predictor of PTSD development.