Neurobiological markers of future susceptibility to
posttraumatic stress disorder (
PTSD) may facilitate identification of vulnerable individuals in the early aftermath of
trauma. Variability in resting-state networks (RSNs), patterns of intrinsic functional connectivity across the brain, has previously been linked to
PTSD, and may thus be informative of
PTSD susceptibility. The present data are part of an initial analysis from the AURORA study, a longitudinal, multisite study of adverse neuropsychiatric sequalae. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data from 109 recently (i.e., ~2 weeks) traumatized individuals were collected and
PTSD and depression symptoms were assessed at 3 months post
trauma. We assessed commonly reported RSNs including the default mode network (DMN), central executive network (CEN), and salience network (SN). We also identified a proposed arousal network (AN) composed of a priori brain regions important for
PTSD: the amygdala, hippocampus, mamillary bodies, midbrain, and pons. Primary analyses assessed whether variability in functional connectivity at the 2-week imaging timepoint predicted 3-month
PTSD symptom severity. Left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) to AN connectivity at 2 weeks post
trauma was negatively related to 3-month
PTSD symptoms. Further, right inferior temporal gyrus (ITG) to DMN connectivity was positively related to 3-month
PTSD symptoms. Both DLPFC-AN and ITG-DMN connectivity also predicted depression symptoms at 3 months. Our results suggest that, following
trauma exposure, acutely assessed variability in RSN connectivity was associated with
PTSD symptom severity approximately two and a half months later. However, these patterns may reflect general susceptibility to posttraumatic dysfunction as the imaging patterns were not linked to specific disorder symptoms, at least in the subacute/early chronic phase. The present data suggest that assessment of RSNs in the early aftermath of
trauma may be informative of susceptibility to posttraumatic dysfunction, with future work needed to understand neural markers of long-term (e.g., 12 months post
trauma) dysfunction. Furthermore, these findings are consistent with neural models suggesting that decreased top-down cortico-limbic regulation and increased network-mediated fear generalization may contribute to ongoing dysfunction in the aftermath of
trauma.