Faculty Articles

Document Type

Working Paper

Publication Date

9-21-2026

Abstract

There is evidence of strong relationships between posttraumatic stress and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Interventions focused on healthy behaviors may promote CVD risk-reduction in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The present study includes analysis of the associations among key outcomes from an intervention study of a cognitive behavioral healthy lifestyle intervention in PTSD, treated as an adjunct to standard trauma therapy. Specifically, we examined whether changes in physical activity and sleep efficiency were associated with changes in body weight and cholesterol. The health behavior intervention is conducted in 12 weekly sessions and includes four overlapping modules (physical activity, nutrition, sleep, and stress management). Our sample included 43 adult participants who screened positive for PTSD and completed pre and post assessments. Physical activity and sleep efficiency were measured with actigraphy watches. Lipids were assessed using finger stick capillary whole blood, body weight was measured with a digital physician scale. Increased vigorous activity from pre-to-post intervention was associated with weight reduction (r = -.37, p < .05) but was not significantly associated with changes in cholesterol. Improved sleep efficiency was significantly associated with reductions in total cholesterol (r = -.40, p < .05) but not changes in weight. These findings provide preliminary information about the inter-correlations of key outcomes in a study of healthy lifestyle changes among adults with PTSD.

Comments

 This manuscript is not a peer-reviewed publication in its present form.

Funding Information

This research was funded by an NHLBI Research Grant #1R15HL165308-01 (PI: Jeffrey Kibler).

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