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Maldonado-Rodriguez, Naomi

University of British Columbia

Background: At least 1 in 3 women will experience intimate partner violence (IPV) in their lifetime. Among these, up to 92% report symptoms that are consistent with brain injury (BI) and 50% report at least one incident involving strangulation. It has been shown that women who have sustained an IPV-related BI demonstrate deficits in neuropsychological performance as well as intrinsic cortical connectivity (4,5). While these studies have provided important insights, there remains a need to further characterize the physiological sequalae of IPV-related BI. In the case of IPV-related BI where injury is often chronic and repetitive, blood biomarkers may provide insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms underlying chronic symptoms of BI and long-term neurocognitive deficits. Purpose: The purpose of this exploratory study was to characterize blood-based biomarkers of neurological injury and inflammation in women who have experienced IPV. Methods: Women who have experienced IPV were recruited from various community women-serving organizations. BI load, operationalized as the composite measure of BI recency, severity, and frequency, was assessed using the Brain Injury Severity Assessment (BISA) tool. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, substance use, and history of abuse were also assessed. A panel of biomarkers of inflammation and neurological injury were quantified using an ultrasensitive single-molecule immunoassay. A stepwise multivariate linear regression was undertaken to explore the relationship between BI load and biomarker concentration while accounting for common comorbid psychopathologies. Results: No biomarker concentration was significantly predicted by the BI load. Interleukin-10 was positively associated with PTSD severity and negatively associated with depression and a history of abuse. Tumor necrosis factor alpha was associated with PTSD severity. Lastly, interleukin-6 concentration was negatively associated with a history of abuse. Conclusion: Our findings support the theory that IPV survivors may experience chronic low-grade systemic inflammation. This may be related to PTSD severity, which reflects the ongoing stress in participants’ lives. While there was no relationship between BI load and common biomarkers of neurological injury, a small sample size and large range in time since last BI may partly account for these negative findings.

Text

2021-07-29

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/79143

Health and Exercise Sciences

University of British Columbia

UBCO

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/