Cardiovascular Risk Indicators and Health-Related Quality of Life in Women Veterans with PTSD

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the most prevalent disorders among women veterans treated at the Veterans Health Administration and is associated with a wide range of negative physical health outcomes, including the development of cardiovascular disease. In addition, PTSD has a negative impact on an individual's subjective perception of the health-related quality of his or her own life. The majority of studies examining the complex relationship between PTSD and health have utilized primarily male populations. To better understand the impact of PTSD on laboratory-based and self-reported measures of health in women veterans, this study used multivariate analyses of variance to compare cardiovascular risk indicators (resting heart rate, blood pressure, and muscle sympathetic nerve activity) and physical and mental health-related quality of life (SF-36) in a sample of women veterans with PTSD to a sample of nonveteran women without PTSD. In addition, hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between PTSD symptom criteria groups and sympathetic nervous system activity indicators and physical and mental health-related quality of life. Results revealed no significant differences between women veterans with PTSD and healthy controls in regards to cardiovascular risk indicators, however women veterans with PTSD reported significantly worse physical and mental health related quality of life. Contrary to expectations, the hyperarousal symptom criteria group was not found to be a significant and unique predictor of sympathetic nervous system activity indicators nor health related quality of life. However, clinician-rated non-hyperarousal PTSD symptom severity was found to be a significant and unique predictor of physical health-related quality of life. Further analysis demonstrated that, of the four PTSD symptom criteria groups, only clinician-rated re-experiencing symptom severity approached being a significant predictor of worse physical health-related quality of life. Since re-experiencing symptoms appear to be an important mechanism by which women veterans make judgments about their physical health, clinically targeting such symptoms in PTSD interventions may result in improved health-related quality of life. Given the relatively young state of research in women veterans with PTSD, it is important to confirm and build on previous research findings for this unique population.