Is PTSD overdiagnosed?

Co-occurring psychiatric disorders and disparities in buprenorphine utilization in opioid use disorder: An analysis of insurance claims

Background

As the overdose crisis continues in the U.S. and Canada, opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment outcomes for people with co-occurring psychiatric disorders are not well characterized. Our objective was to examine the influence of co-occurring psychiatric disorders on buprenorphine initiation and discontinuation.

Methods

This retrospective cohort study used multi-state administrative claims data in the U.S. to evaluate rates of buprenorphine initiation (relative to psychosocial treatment without medication) in a cohort of 236,198 people with OUD entering treatment, both with and without co-occurring psychiatric disorders, grouping by psychiatric disorder subtype (mood, psychotic, and anxiety-and-related disorders). Among people initiating buprenorphine, we assessed the influence of co-occurring psychiatric disorders on buprenorphine retention. We used multivariable Poisson regression to estimate buprenorphine initiation and Cox regression to estimate time to discontinuation, adjusting for all 3 classes of co-occurring disorders simultaneously and adjusting for baseline demographic and clinical characteristics.

Results

Buprenorphine initiation occurred in 29.3 % of those with co-occurring anxiety-and-related disorders, compared to 25.9 % and 17.5 % in people with mood and psychotic disorders. Mood (adjusted-risk-ratio[aRR] = 0.82[95 % CI = 0.82-0.83]) and psychotic disorders (aRR = 0.95[0.94-0.96]) were associated with decreased initiation (versus psychosocial treatment), in contrast to greater initiation in the anxiety disorders cohort (aRR = 1.06[1.05-1.06]). We observed an increase in buprenorphine discontinuation associated with mood (adjusted-hazard-ratio[aHR] = 1.20[1.17-1.24]) and anxiety disorders (aHR = 1.12[1.09-1.14]), in contrast to no association between psychotic disorders and buprenorphine discontinuation.

Conclusions

We observed underutilization of buprenorphine among people with co-occurring mood and psychotic disorders, as well as high buprenorphine discontinuation across anxiety, mood, and psychotic disorders.

Editorial: Are Group-Based Interventions Effective for Treating Trauma-Related Psychopathology in Children and Young People?

Trauma-exposed young people are about twice as likely as their unexposed peers to develop mental health problems, which, if left untreated, can have long-term negative consequences.1 There is robust evidence for the effectiveness of individual trauma-focused psychological therapies to improve trauma-related psychopathology, particularly posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), in young people.2 However, there are minimal services that provide such specialist treatments in low/middle-income countries where most young people live,3 and services may be severely disrupted at times of extreme stressors, such as war, natural disasters, and other humanitarian crises, when need is greatest.4 Moreover, even in high-income stable regions where child mental health services are established and treatments are available, these health care resources are limited, and can only be accessed by a minority of affected trauma-exposed young people.5 There is therefore a need for research to indicate effective interventions that are more accessible and can be delivered on a greater scale to treat more young people with trauma-related psychopathology.6 The recent meta-analysis by Davis et al.7 focused on the more accessible intervention of group-based psychological treatment for child PTSD symptoms, and found evidence of effectiveness compared with control conditions. The study provides an important advancement in this field, and also highlights the need for further research to better understand how group interventions can be most usefully implemented.

Monotonic Association of Increasing Past-Year Substance Use Disorder across a Four-Level Trauma Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Hierarchy in a Nationwide Sample

OBJECTIVE

There is limited information on the differences in the association of substance use disorders (SUD) with four clinically relevant hierarchical groups based on trauma exposure and its consequences (1-no trauma; 2-trauma but no PTSD; 3-remitted PTSD; and 4-current PTSD).

METHODS

Among adults enrolled in a large nationally representative survey, the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions Wave III (NESARC III), we compared differences in SUD prevalence between each of the hierarchical trauma group and the prior group adjusting for potentially confounding factors.

RESULTS

Unadjusted results show that each increase in the hierarchy was associated with a greater likelihood of SUD diagnoses, even after adjusting for potentially confounding variables. However, after adjusting for covariates, comparison of adults with past to those with current PTSD showed persistence of SUD indicators.

CONCLUSION

SUD prevalence increased substantially with trauma exposure even without PTSD and monotonically increased further with past and current PTSD, respectively, illustrating the differential effect of the clinical consequences of trauma.

Urbanicity, posttraumatic stress disorder, and effect modification by socioeconomic position: A nested case-control study of the Korean National Health Insurance Database

BACKGROUND

We aimed to estimate the association between urbanicity and the onset of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and to investigate heterogeneity therein according to age and socioeconomic position (SEP).

METHODS

We analyzed administrative data from the Korean National Health Insurance Database for patients with PTSD from 2004 to 2018 (N = 109,230) and for a 1:4 sample of age-, sex-, and enrollment year-matched controls. Information on eligibility, SEP (proxied by insurance premium), place of residence, diagnosis, and medical claims was obtained. Urbanicity of administrative districts was assessed using data from the Korean Statistical Information Service, 2005-2018. We estimated hazard ratios (HRs) from baseline and time-dependent models. Subgroup analyses and polynomial splines were used to investigate heterogeneity by age and SEP.

RESULTS

Urbanicity was associated with an increased risk of PTSD (per 10%p increase, HR = 1.056, 95% CI 1.050-1.061). A positive association was estimated among patients aged 0-29 years (HR = 1.115, CI 1.106-1.124), while negative associations were estimated among patients aged 30-64 years (HR = 0.990, CI 0.987-0.994) and 65 years or older (HR = 0.992, CI 0.979-1.014). The estimated associations with urbanicity were more prominent at the extremes of SEP, but only among younger participants.

CONCLUSION

Urban residence was associated with an increased risk of PTSD diagnosis. The estimated association was larger among younger individuals (but not among middle-aged and older individuals). Among younger individuals, the estimated association was larger at both extremes of SEP.

Classification of performance validity and symptom validity using the Trauma Symptom Inventory-2

The Trauma Symptom Inventory-Second Edition (TSI-2) is garnering research interest as a symptom validity test in the evaluation of trauma-related disorders. However, there has been limited empirical validation of its validity scales in clinical and forensic real-world settings. This study evaluated the ability of the TSI-2 Atypical Response (ATR) scale to discriminate response bias in cognitive performance and symptom reporting in a large sample of disability and compensation-seeking claimants. This retrospective chart review included 296 adults with a known history of trauma exposure or claimed trauma-related psychological injury who underwent neuropsychological and/or comprehensive psychological assessment in a private neuropsychology clinic. The discriminability of the ATR scale to classify credible versus non-credible cognitive profiles and symptom reporting were analyzed by AUC-ROCs. Overall, the ATR scale demonstrated poor discriminability of assessment validity based on the Word Memory Test, Victoria Symptom Validity Test, and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form. The ATR scale had fair discriminatory ability of only one of the over-reporting scales (F-r), with an ROC area of .73, p = .001. However, the test publisher's proposed ATR cut-offs of ≥8 for screening, research, and normal groups, and ≥15 in forensic and clinical settings revealed significant issues with sensitivity and specificity. These results suggest that the TSI-2 should be paired with other established performance validity and symptom validity tests in clinical assessments and not be used as the primary or sole indicator of assessment validity.

Local understandings of PTSD and complex PTSD among health professionals working with adolescents in violent neighbourhoods of São Paulo city, Brazil

BACKGROUND

Adolescents in low-resource urban settings in Brazil are often exposed to high levels of trauma that can result in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, preliminary evidence indicates that PTSD tends to be under-reported in Brazilian health services, despite the high prevalence of trauma. Additionally, little is known about the perceived applicability among clinicians of the new ICD-11 diagnosis of complex PTSD (CPTSD), despite its potential relevance for contexts of chronic trauma. The current study investigated local understandings of PTSD and CPTSD among health professionals working with adolescents in violent neighbourhoods of São Paulo city.

METHODS

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 58 health professionals working at both the primary care and specialized mental health levels in two areas of São Paulo city with high levels of community violence.

RESULTS

Most participants knew about PTSD, but most did not know about CPTSD. There were mixed views concerning the commonality of PTSD among adolescents exposed to community violence. Many participants reported having no experience working with patients with the PTSD diagnosis. According to some, community violence was normalized by adolescents and health professionals, and did not result in PTSD. Others highlighted how they did not use psychiatric diagnoses in their practice, had critical perspectives towards psychiatric diagnoses and/or PTSD, or simply knew little about PTSD. Furthermore, many highlighted how the chronic nature of multiple traumas experienced by adolescents often resulted in complex clinical presentations characterised by many symptoms beyond PTSD. The diagnosis of CPTSD was considered appropriate to the context by many participants as it captured the complex traumatic histories and symptom presentations of adolescents exposed to community violence in Brazil.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings have important implications for the assessment and treatment of mental health among adolescents exposed to community violence in Brazil.

Deep Brain Stimulation for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Review of the Experimental and Clinical Literature

INTRODUCTION

Up to 30% of patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), especially combat veterans, remain refractory to conventional treatment. For them, deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been suggested. Here, we review the literature on animal models of PTSD in which DBS has been used to treat PTSD-type behavior, and we review and discuss patient reports of DBS for PTSD.

METHODS

A broad search was performed to find experimental animal articles and clinical reports on PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, and PsycINFO, using combinations and variations of search words pertinent to DBS and PTSD.

RESULTS

The search yielded 30 articles, 24 on DBS in rat models of PTSD, and 6 publications between 2016 and 2020 reporting on a total of 3 patients. DBS in rat models targeted 4 brain areas: medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), ventral striatum, amygdala, and hippocampus. Clinical publications reported on 2 male combat veterans who received DBS in basolateral amygdala, and 1 female with PTSD due to domestic abuse, who received DBS of mPFC. All 3 patients benefitted to various extents from DBS, at follow-ups of 4 years, 6 months, and 7 months, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

PTSD is the only potential clinical indication for DBS that shows extensive animal research prior to human applications. Nevertheless, DBS for PTSD remains highly investigational. Despite several years of government funding of DBS research in view of treating severe PTSD in combat veterans, ethical dilemmas, recruitment difficulties, and issues related to use of DBS in such a complex and heterogenous disorder remain prevalent.