Later-life PTSD boosts vascular risk, study finds
ORLANDO – Military veterans aged 55 years or older with current posttraumatic stress disorder are at significantly higher risk of developing new-onset vascular disease than are those without PTSD, according to a very large national longitudinal study.
"This study suggests the need for greater monitoring and treatment of PTSD in older veterans to assist in the prevention of vascular disorders," Amy L. Byers, Ph.D., said at the annual meeting of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry.
She reported on 138,341 veterans aged 55 years or older who were free of known vascular disease at baseline. During 8 years of follow-up, those with PTSD had significantly higher rates of incident cerebrovascular disease, acute MI, heart failure, and peripheral vascular disease than did those without PTSD, even after adjustment for demographics, comorbid diabetes, hypertension, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, renal disease, traumatic brain injury, dementia, substance use disorders, and psychiatric diagnoses. The fully adjusted increased risk of each of the forms of vascular disease under study still remained significant at P less than .001, noted Dr. Byers, an epidemiologist in the psychiatry department at the University of California, San Francisco.
In a separate study led by Dr. Byers, PTSD in the general population with onset prior to and persistence beyond age 55 was a powerful independent predictor of global disability.
Dr. Byers’ study of older veterans was funded by the Department of Defense. She had no disclosures.