Identifying latent profiles of posttraumatic stress and major depression symptoms in Canadian veterans: Exploring differences across profiles in health related functioning

Cherie Armour; Ateka Contractor; Jon D Elhai; Maurice Stringer; Gary Lyle; David Forbes; J Don Richardson

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2015.03.011

Identifying latent profiles of posttraumatic stress and major depression symptoms in Canadian veterans: Exploring differences across profiles in health related functioning

Psychiatry Res. 2015 Jul 30;228(1):1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2015.03.011. Epub 2015 Apr 22.

Authors

Cherie Armour¹, Ateka Contractor², Jon D Elhai³, Maurice Stringer⁴, Gary Lyle⁵, David Forbes⁶, J Don Richardson⁷

Affiliations

¹ School of Psychology, University of Ulster at Coleraine Campus, Coleraine, Northern Ireland, UK. Electronic address: armour.cherie@gmail.com.
² Department of Psychology, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, USA.
³ Department of Psychology, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, USA.
⁴ School of Psychology, University of Ulster at Coleraine Campus, Coleraine, Northern Ireland, UK.
⁵ Psychology Department, Northern Ireland Prison Service, HMP Magilligan, Limavady, Northern Ireland, UK.
⁶ Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health and Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁷ Parkwood Operational Stress Injury Clinic, St. Joseph׳s Health Care London - Parkwood Hospital, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

PMID: 25936834
DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2015.03.011

Abstract

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been consistently reported as being highly comorbid with major depressive disorder (MDD) and as being associated with health related functional impairment (HRF). We used archival data from 283 previously war-zone deployed Canadian veterans. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to uncover patterns of PTSD and MDD comorbidity as measured via the PTSD Checklist-Military version (PCL-M) and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Individual membership of latent classes was used in a series of one-way ANOVAs to ascertain group differences related to HRF as measured via the Short-Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36). LPA resulted in three discrete patterns of PTSD and MDD comorbidity which were characterized by high symptoms of PTSD and MDD, moderate symptoms, and low symptoms. All ANOVAs comparing class membership on the SF-36 subscales were statistically significant demonstrating group differences across levels of HRF. The group with the highest symptoms reported the worst HRF followed by the medium and low symptom groups. These findings are clinically relevant as they demonstrate the need for continual assessment and targeted treatment of co-occurring PTSD and MDD.

Keywords: Depression; Health related functioning; Latent modeling; Posttraumatic stress disorder; Veterans.

MeSH terms

Adult
Canada
Checklist
Depressive Disorder, Major / diagnosis*
Female
Health Surveys
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / diagnosis*
Surveys and Questionnaires
Symptom Assessment
Veterans / psychology*