Posttraumatic Stress Symptom Courses in U.S. Military Veterans: A Seven-Year, Nationally Representative, Prospective Cohort Study

Publication date: Available online 12 September 2019Source: Journal of Psychiatric ResearchAuthor(s): Natalie P. Mota, Joan M. Cook, Noelle B. Smith, Jack Tsai, Ilan Harpaz-Rotem, John H. Krystal, Steven M. Southwick, Robert H. PietrzakAbstractThe current study examined the nature and correlates of seven-year posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom courses in a nationally representative, prospective cohort of U.S. military veterans. Data were analyzed from 2,307 trauma-exposed veterans who completed at least one follow-up assessment over a 7-year period, a subsample of n=3,157 veterans who participated in the first wave of the National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study. Latent growth mixture modeling (LGMM) was used to identify PTSD symptom courses over four survey waves conducted in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2018. Sociodemographic, health, and psychosocial variables were examined as potential correlates of symptomatic trajectories. PTSD symptoms were best characterized by three courses: No/Low (89.2%), Moderate Symptom (7.6%), and High Symptom (3.2%). Relative to the No/Low Symptom course, symptomatic courses were positively associated with a greater number of lifetime traumatic events, higher scores on measures of physical health difficulties and lifetime psychiatric history (relative risk ratio [RRR] range=1.19-2.74), and were negatively associated with time since index trauma, household income, and social connectedness (RRR range=0.14-0.97). Veterans in the Moderat...
Source: Journal of Psychiatric Research - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research