The Risk Factors for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Veterans

Choi, Jin Hee; Chung, Moon Yong; Chung, Il Jin

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this study was to investigate the risk factors in veterans for posttraumatic stress disorder and to find the correlation between the disorder and the characteristics of the variables.
METHODS
We compared the risk factors in veterans between 40 diagnosed PTSD patients and 78 controls, using psychiatric by psychiatrists and measurement instruments such as CES, Mississippi scale, and BDI
RESULTS
1) There was statistically significant difference in prevalence on pre-military factor with regard to age at recruit(p<0.05) 2) PTSD on military factor was closely correlated with CES score(p<0.05) 3) There was statistically significant difference in PTSD on post-military factor with regard to occupation(p<0.05) 4) Scores of Mississippi scale, and BDI in PTSD were higher than those in control subjects(p<0.05, p<0.05)
CONCLUSION
This results suggest that the likehood of developing PTSD in veterans depends on pre-military and post-military factors in addition to features of the trauma itself. Age of entry into the military, CES score, and occupation had statistically significant relationships with PTSD.