37. Associations of Psychological Resilience to Trauma With Somatic Symptoms and COVID-19 Infection Over Two Years

Experiences of trauma may increase risk for physical health consequences, such as somatic symptoms, chronic conditions, and even infections, due in part to post-traumatic psychological sequelae. However, various internal and external factors cause many individuals to show psychological resilience to trauma, or positive psychological adaptation despite exposure. Thus, showing psychological resilience to prior trauma may be associated with better physical health outcomes, particularly in the face of subsequent stressors such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Among 528 US adults in a longitudinal cohort, we examined psychological resilience to trauma early in the pandemic and levels of somatic symptoms and COVID-19 risk over two years of follow-up. Resilience was defined as one's relative level of psychological health (i.e., low distress and positive functioning) to lifetime trauma burden (i.e., count of traumatic events) in August 2020. Outcomes included somatic symptoms, COVID-19 infection, COVID-19 symptom severity, and long COVID risk assessed every six months. Covariate-adjusted regressions examined associations between resilience and outcomes. Higher resilience was associated with lower levels of somatic symptoms across follow-up, adjusting for sociodemographics, COVID-19 infection, and long COVID. One standard deviation higher resilience was associated with 31% lower likelihood of COVID-19 infection across time (Relative Risk=0.69, 95%CI 0.49-0.99), adjusting for sociodemographics and COVID-19 vaccination. In contrast, resilience was not associated with COVID-19 symptom severity or long COVID risk. Psychological resilience to trauma may protect against somatic symptom experience and COVID-19 infection risk. Supporting recovery from trauma, both reducing distress and bolstering positive capacities, may benefit later mental and physical health.