Study participants are OEF/OIF veterans recruited from New York University Langone Medical Center (NYU), the James J Peters VA Medical Center (JJPVAMC), and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) as part of a multi-site consortium effort (SBPBC) to identify, validate, and deploy PTSD diagnostic biomarkers. All participants in both cases and controls had experienced combat exposure. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants before the clinical assessment was conducted. Assessment of combat-associated PTSD diagnosis and severity was based on CAPS-IV (Clinician Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-IV) administered by a doctoral-level clinician. Deep and extensive phenotype information was thoroughly gathered. These included, in addition to CAPS, the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV for anxiety, mood, alcohol and substance use, and psychotic disorders, as well as demographics data including race/ethnicity, age, relationship-status, and anthropometric data, including BMI, weight, and height. Further details about clinical and demographic data can be found in Table 1. In order to maximize signal detection, those with intermediate severity level sub-threshold PTSD were excluded. Other exclusion criteria included (i) any drug abuse within a year
