Morphine May Head Off PTSD

Posted on January 24, 2010 in Health & Medicine, Recent Studies

Morphine may prevent the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in wounded troops, according to an observational study. Those who received a dose of the drug during resuscitation or trauma care were half as likely to develop PTSD.

PTSD is a disorder that causes someone who has experienced a trauma to keep reliving it and the fear it caused Researchers at the U.S. Naval Health Research Center led a study of about 700 troops injured in Iraq from 2004 through 2006. About 70 percent of the troops were given morphine, most within an hour of injury. Two years later, 147 of them had developed PTSD. Of the 203 not given morphine immediately after injury, 96 developed PTSD.

Researchers speculated that morphine’s pain-relieving effects put military personnel at a reduced risk of developing the disorder later on. Previous studies have identified associations between lower pain levels after a serious injury and a lesser chance of PTSD.

About 53,000 troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have been treated for PTSD. The findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.