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Prior assault and posttraumatic stress disorder after combat deployment
Tyler C Smith1, Deborah L Wingard, Margaret A K Ryan
1Department of Defense Center for Deployment Health Research, Naval Health Research Center, San Diego, CA 92186-5122, USA. tyler.c.smith@med.navy.mil
Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.)
|April 17, 2008
Summary
Prior assault increases the risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in military personnel deployed in combat zones. This vulnerability was observed in both men and women, highlighting a critical factor in PTSD development.
Area of Science:
- Military health research
- Trauma and stressor-related disorders
Background:
- Understanding vulnerability and resilience factors for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after severe stress is crucial.
- Previous assault history is a potential predictor of PTSD development, but requires further investigation in diverse populations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To prospectively investigate the association between prior assault and the development of new-onset PTSD symptoms.
- To examine this relationship in a large cohort of US military personnel deployed during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from the Millennium Cohort study, collecting exposure and health outcome information from over 55,000 participants.
- Focused on 5324 deployed personnel with combat exposure and no prior PTSD diagnosis, employing multivariable logistic regression.
Main Results:
- New-onset PTSD symptoms were diagnosed in 22% of women with prior assault versus 10% without; for men, rates were 12% versus 6%.
- Individuals with a history of assault had more than double the odds of developing new-onset PTSD symptoms, irrespective of gender, after adjusting for baseline factors.
Conclusions:
- Prior assault is a significant risk factor that increases vulnerability to PTSD symptoms in military professionals.
- Findings suggest that history of assault may impede resilience against PTSD in combat-exposed service members.
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