Citation

Wang J, Ursano RJ, Gonzalez OI, Russell DW, Dinh H, Hernandez L, Gifford RK, Cohen GH, Sampson L, Galea S, Fullerton CS. Psychiatry Res. 2018; 267: 455-460.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, 4301 Jones Bridge Road, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.psychres.2018.06.034

PMID

29980124

Abstract

This study examined the association between suicidal ideation and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom trajectories in a nationally representative sample of United States Reserve Component soldiers. PTSD symptoms related to a traumatic event during the most recent deployment were assessed in four annual waves in 2010-2013 among 682 Reserve Component soldiers. Latent Growth Mixture Modeling (LGMM) was used to examine the longitudinal trajectories of PTSD symptoms. The association between the PTSD trajectories and suicidal ideation at waves 2 to 4 was examined in logistic regression analyses. Four trajectories were identified: resilience (73.0%), recovery (11.7%), late onset (11.6%) and chronic (3.6%). Pairwise comparisons demonstrated significant differences between trajectories in risk of suicidal ideation. Among the chronic trajectory group, 50.9% reported suicidal ideation (25.8% late onset group; 11.3% recovery group; 4.0% resilience group). After controlling for baseline characteristics, the late onset and chronic trajectory groups were more likely to have suicidal ideation than the resilience and recovery trajectories, respectively.

FINDINGS suggest the late onset and chronic trajectories of PTSD symptoms are associated with higher risk of suicidal ideation. They support the importance of follow-up assessment of suicide risk even among individuals with low PTSD symptoms at homecoming.

Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Language: en

Keywords

Military population; PTSD Symptoms; Suicidal ideation; Trajectories