First Place for Academic Project - $500
Brittany Speisman (Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT)
 

Research Study: “The Impact of Co-Morbid Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder on Chronic Medical Conditions in a Nationally Representative Sample”

Abstract
    Aims: To investigate the relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and physical health conditions among a nationally representative sample of traumatized individuals.

    Design/Participants: The present analyses focused on respondents who completed Part II of the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R) and who reported exposure to at least one traumatic event in their lifetime (N=4984). The sample was divided into four groups based on DSM-IV diagnoses: 1) Comorbid PTSD/MDD, 2) PTSD only, 3) MDD only, and 4) trauma only (no PTSD or MDD). Separate logistic regression analyses controlling for several sociodemographic and health risk behavior variables were conducted to examine the multivariate relationships between psychiatric group status and self-reported headaches, back/neck pain, chronic pain, allergies, arthritis as well as reports of doctor diagnosed ulcers, asthma, cardiovascular diseases, lung disease, diabetes, and epilepsy.

    Results: Group status was related to all self-reported health conditions. In general, individuals with comorbid PTSD/MDD were more likely to report experiencing these conditions compared to the other three groups. When examining doctor diagnosed conditions, group status was related to reports of ulcers, cancer, and epilepsy. Compared to the trauma only group, the comorbid PTSD/MDD and MDD only groups were significantly more likely to report a diagnosis of an ulcer and the comorbid PTSD/MDD group was more likely to report cancer. In addition, the MDD only group was less likely to report epilepsy compared to all other groups. Group status was not related to cardiovascular diseases (i.e. high blood pressure, heart disease, heart attack, stroke), asthma, lung disease or diabetes.

    Conclusions: Self-reported physical health conditions were most strongly associated with comorbidity between PTSD and MDD, whereas the majority of doctor diagnosed health conditions were not related to group status. These findings suggest that psychiatric comorbidity may impact perceptions of physical health; however, the relationship between psychiatric morbidity and doctor diagnosed measures of health may vary based on the physical health outcome assessed.
 

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