Predicting Health-Related Quality of Life in Trauma-Exposed Male Veterans in Late Midlife: A 20 Year Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Trauma-exposed adults with high levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) report poorer health-related quality of life (HRQOL), but less is known about the persistence of this relationship over time. Participants from the Vietnam Era Twin Study of Aging reported on PTSS, health, and sociodemographic characteristics at average age 38; 775 participants reported having been exposed to trauma. Later, at average ages 56 and 62, mental and physical HRQOL were assessed with the Short-Form 36. Premorbid risk for anxiety/neuroticism was evaluated with a polygenic risk score derived from a large genome-wide association study meta-analysis. In multivariate mixed models, having higher levels of PTSS, poorer self-rated health, lower income, and less education at age 38 were associated with worse physical and mental HRQOL two decades later. Chronic health problems at age 38 predicted midlife physical but not mental HRQOL. Although genetic risk for neuroticism was correlated with HRQOL and PTSS, it was no longer significant in multivariate models. Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) predicts morbidity and mortality independently of objective health measures; early interventions may help to mitigate the ongoing impact of trauma on quality of life.

Connecting psychosocial and personality characteristics with mental health outcomes. An Italian co-twin control study

“…A possibly causal association of health status concerns with depression and anxiety symptoms was also found. Self-rated health has been found to be moderately heritable ( Svedberg et al, 2005 , Stevens et al, 2020 ). This shows the importance of accounting for potential familial confounding when studying the associations between self-rated health and mental disorders.…”

PTSD Symptom Severity and Overall Quality of Life Pre-and During COVID-19 Among Adults Seeking Housing Support Services

“…The primary covariate was cohort: pre-COVID-19 and during COVID-19. Several additional covariates were controlled for in the analysis based on their demonstrated relationships to PTSD symptom severity and QOL, the potential for confounding, and for which data were available (Flanagan et al, 2016;Hailes et al, 2019;McCauley et al, 2012;Senneseth et al, 2012;Stevens et al, 2020). Alcohol use in the past 30 days and responses were dichotomized into a yes/no variable.…”