Race, combat, and PTSD in a community sample of New Zealand Vietnam War veterans

Risk and protective factors for post-traumatic stress among New Zealand military personnel: A cross sectional study

Background

Post-traumatic stress (PTS) is prevalent among military personnel. Knowledge of the risk and protective factors associated with PTS in this population may assist with identifying personnel who would benefit from increased or targeted support.

Aims

To examine factors associated with PTS among New Zealand military personnel.

Methods

For this cross-sectional study, currently serving and retired military personnel were invited to complete a questionnaire. The questionnaire included a measure of PTS (the Military Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist; PCL-M), where scores ≥30 indicate the experience of significant PTS symptoms and scores ≥45 indicate a presumptive clinical diagnosis of post-traumatic stress. Potential risk and protective factors associated with PTS were examined using logistic regression modelling.

Results

1817 military personnel completed the questionnaire. PCL-M scores were ≥30 for 549 (30%) participants and ≥45 for 179 (10%) participants. Factors associated with higher PCL-M scores were trauma exposure, older age, male sex, and Māori ethnicity. Factors associated with lower PCL-M scores were greater length of service, psychological flexibility, and better quality sleep.

Conclusions

PTS was found to be prevalent among New Zealand military personnel. The experience of trauma was strongly associated with PTS. However, factors such as psychological flexibility (the ability to adapt to changes in circumstances) and good sleep were protective, suggesting that these factors could be key targets for interventions designed to reduce PTS among military personnel in New Zealand.

Acculturation, psychiatric comorbidity and posttraumatic stress disorder in a Taiwanese aboriginal population

BACKGROUND

This study investigates acculturation and other antecedent psychiatric and socio-environmental risk factors for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in one aboriginal group (the Bunun) exposed to an earthquake disaster in Taiwan.

METHOD

Respondents (n = 196) were assessed 5 months after the disaster, using a Chinese version of the Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry and the Taiwan Aboriginal Acculturation Scale.

RESULT

Four risk factors exerted independent effect on the risk of PTSD, including magnitude of the earthquake, subsequent traumas, antecedent major depressive disorder and acculturation status.

CONCLUSION

Public mental health programs need to consider the liability to PTSD in populations with different ethnicity and socio-cultural environments.

War-related posttraumatic stress disorder in Black, Hispanic, and majority White Vietnam veterans: the roles of exposure and vulnerability

Elevated prevalence rates of chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been reported for Black and Hispanic Vietnam veterans. There has been no comprehensive explanation of these group differences. Moreover, previous research has relied on retrospective reports of war-zone stress and on PTSD assessments that fail to distinguish between prevalence and incidence. These limitations are addressed by use of record-based exposure measures and clinical diagnoses of a subsample of veterans from the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study (NVVRS). Compared with Majority White, the Black elevation is explained by Blacks' greater exposure; the Hispanic elevation, by Hispanics' greater exposure, younger age, lesser education, and lower Armed Forces Qualification Test scores. The PTSD elevation in Hispanics versus Blacks is accounted for mainly by Hispanics' younger age.

Trauma and stress response among Hurricane Katrina evacuees

OBJECTIVES

Hurricane Katrina's impact on public health has been significant and multifaceted, with trauma-related psychological sequelae likely to result in a sizable burden of disease. Data were collected that assessed acute stress disorder (ASD) prevalence and factors related to ASD symptomatology among sheltered evacuees.

METHODS

On days 12 to 19 after Katrina, evacuees at a major emergency shelter completed surveys that assessed demographics, Katrina-specific experiences, and ASD symptomatology.

RESULTS

Sixty-two percent of the sample met ASD threshold criterion. Projections based on the predictive power of ASD to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) suggest that 38% to 49% of the sample will meet PTSD criteria 2 years post-disaster. Female gender (odds ratio [OR] = 4.08), positive psychiatric history (OR=5.84), injury (OR=2.75), increased life-threat perception (OR=1.37), and decreased sense of personal control (OR=1.56) were significantly related to ASD. Black race was associated with greater symptom severity (B=7.85, SE[B]=3.50).

CONCLUSIONS

Katrina-related trauma and its psychological sequelae will remain a significant public health issue for years to come. The identification of several vulnerability factors related to ASD and PTSD provides a brief sketch of those at greatest risk.

Meta-analysis of risk factors for posttraumatic stress disorder in trauma-exposed adults

Meta-analyses were conducted on 14 separate risk factors for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the moderating effects of various sample and study characteristics, including civilian/military status, were examined. Three categories of risk factor emerged: Factors such as gender, age at trauma, and race that predicted PTSD in some populations but not in others; factors such as education, previous trauma, and general childhood adversity that predicted PTSD more consistently but to a varying extent according to the populations studied and the methods used; and factors such as psychiatric history, reported childhood abuse, and family psychiatric history that had more uniform predictive effects. Individually, the effect size of all the risk factors was modest, but factors operating during or after the trauma, such as trauma severity, lack of social support, and additional life stress, had somewhat stronger effects than pretrauma factors.