New-onset autoimmunity in people living with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Authors

Yovel Cohen, Meir Schechter, Dvora R Sehtman-Shachar, Ofri Mosenzon, Howard Amital, Genya Aharon-Hananel, Gil Leibowitz

Published in

Brain, behavior, and immunity. Pages 106955. Aug 11, 2026. Epub Aug 11, 2026.

Abstract

Prior observational studies suggest an association between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and autoimmune disorders; however, a comprehensive evaluation of this relationship remains limited.
In this retrospective cohort study, using the TriNetX global network, individuals newly diagnosed with chronic PTSD without autoimmune disease at baseline were propensity-score-matched to individuals without PTSD (2005-2025). Matching included age, sex, race, ethnicity, obesity, smoking, and psychiatric comorbidities variables. Cox models estimated the risk of 32 new-onset autoimmune disorders during 5-year follow-up period, overall and by organ class. Analyses were repeated across subgroups defined by sex, age, race, ethnicity, and the presence or absence of depression and/or anxiety.
The matched cohort included 316,482 individuals (mean age, 38.5 ± 16.6 years; 64.1% women). Over 1,054,536 person-years of follow-up, new autoimmune disorders occurred in 12,845 (8.37%) individuals with PTSD and 9,988 (6.51%) individuals without PTSD (hazard ratio [HR], 1.34 [95% CI 1.30-1.37]; absolute risk difference calculated over 4 years was 2.9% [2.7-3.1]). PTSD was associated with higher risks of rheumatologic (HR, 1.33 [1.26-1.41]), gastrointestinal (1.25 [1.15-1.36]), hematologic (1.59 [1.39-1.81]), endocrine (1.40 [1.35-1.45]), and neurologic autoimmune disorders (1.53 [1.31-1.78]). The increased risk remained consistent in sex-stratified analyses, with HRs of 1.20 [1.15-1.25] in men and 1.32 [1.29-1.36] in women, and across all ages, racial, and ethnic subgroups and in subjects with or without comorbid depression and/or anxiety.
PTSD is associated with an increased risk of subsequent development of autoimmune disorders.

PMID:
42580643
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 12 Aug 2026.

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