PTSD has been harder to map genetically than most psychiatric disorders. A 2024 study of more than 1.2 million people found 95 loci, 80 of them new, and 43 likely causal genes. 13 of the positions it reports are in this catalogue.
What this condition connects to
Prevalence
The study behind this page combined 137,136 people with PTSD among 1,222,882 of European ancestry, and 13,624 among 58,051 admixed people with African and Native American ancestry (Nievergelt et al. 2024, PMID:38637617).
Inheritance
Polygenic: 95 genome-wide significant loci in the largest study, 80 of them new, with 13 of its reported positions on this page. PTSD follows exposure to trauma; what is inherited is part of the difference in who develops it afterwards.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can follow a traumatic event: intrusive memories, avoidance, and a state of alarm that does not switch off. Most people who live through trauma do not develop it, and part of the difference is inherited. Finding the positions responsible has been slow — the study behind this page describes PTSD genetics as having lower discoverability than most other psychiatric disorders.
95 loci, 80 of them new
Nievergelt et al. 2024, in Nature Genetics, combined genome-wide association studies across 1,222,882 people of European ancestry, 137,136 of them with PTSD, and 58,051 admixed people with African and Native American ancestry, 13,624 of them with PTSD. It identified 95 genome-wide significant loci, 80 of them new.
Bringing several kinds of molecular evidence together, the authors identified 43 potential causal genes, which they sort into four broad groups: neurotransmitter and ion channel modulators of the synapse (for example GRIA1, GRM8 and CACNA1E); developmental, axon guidance and transcription factors (for example FOXP2, EFNA5 and DCC); genes of synaptic structure and function (for example PCLO, NCAM1 and PDE4B); and endocrine or immune regulators (for example ESR1, TRAF3 and TANK). Other top genes influence stress, immune, fear and threat-related processes — the systems long proposed to underlie PTSD.
13 positions, and where they were filed before
This catalogue holds 13 of the positions the study reports. Two of the genes the abstract names are among them: rs169235 and rs4652676 both lie in CACNA1E, a calcium channel gene, and rs7519259 lies in PDE4B.
Only one of the 13, rs7243332, is filed on this site under PTSD. The other 12 were already here under another trait — among them depression, neuroticism, intelligence and substance use disorder — and the study reports the same positions for PTSD. A position shared between two traits does not mean one causes the other; it means the same stretch of the genome shows up in both studies.
Clinical detail
What is actually diagnosed and treated here
PTSD is diagnosed by a clinician from a person's symptoms and history, not from a genotype. None of the 13 variants on this page is used by any guideline to predict, screen for or diagnose PTSD.
The study's purpose was to find the biology, and its authors present the results as strengthening the understanding of the systems involved and opening new areas for investigation — not as a test. Trauma-focused psychological therapy is the established first treatment, with medication where it is needed. Nothing on this page changes whether a person who is struggling after trauma should seek help: they should.
Related variants MyGeneLog™ checks for
What a 23andMe/AncestryDNA export or raw VCF can and can't tell you about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) comes down to these specific, well-studied positions — not a diagnosis.
Standard
Sclerosing cholangitis and ulcerative colitis (combined)
The studies behind these variants recruited participants from different ancestries — a result found in one population doesn't always transfer to another. Based on 10 of 13 linked studies with a resolved discovery ancestry.
46.2%
15.4%
15.4%
European · 46.2% East Asian · 15.4% Other named ancestries (NR) · 15.4% Not yet resolved · 23.1%
Questions about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
What is post-traumatic stress disorder?
A condition that can follow a traumatic event, marked by intrusive memories, avoidance and a lasting state of alarm. Most people who live through trauma do not develop it.
Is PTSD genetic?
Partly. PTSD follows trauma, but who develops it afterwards is influenced by inheritance. The largest study, in more than 1.2 million people, found 95 associated loci, 80 of them new, and 43 potential causal genes.
Which genes are linked to PTSD?
The 2024 study names examples in four groups, including GRIA1, GRM8 and CACNA1E (synaptic signalling), FOXP2 and DCC (development), PCLO, NCAM1 and PDE4B (synaptic structure), and ESR1, TRAF3 and TANK (endocrine or immune regulation). CACNA1E and PDE4B have positions on this page.
Can these variants predict whether someone will develop PTSD?
No. They are population-level findings. PTSD is diagnosed by a clinician from symptoms and history, and no guideline uses a genotype to predict it.
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