Understanding trajectories of underlying dimensions of posttraumatic psychopathology

Jennifer A Sumner; Dennis Rünger; Theodore F Robles; Sarah R Lowe; David Elashoff; Vivek Shetty

doi:10.1016/j.jad.2021.01.086

Understanding trajectories of underlying dimensions of posttraumatic psychopathology

J Affect Disord. 2021 Apr 1:284:75-84. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2021.01.086. Epub 2021 Feb 5.

Authors

Jennifer A Sumner¹, Dennis Rünger², Theodore F Robles³, Sarah R Lowe⁴, David Elashoff², Vivek Shetty⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, United States. Electronic address: jsumner@psych.ucla.edu.
² Department of Medicine Statistics Core, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
³ Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, United States.
⁴ Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, United States.
⁵ School of Dentistry, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, United States.

Abstract

Background: Research suggests four modal trajectories of psychological symptoms after traumatic injury: Resilient, Chronic, Delayed Onset, Recovery. However, most studies focus on symptoms of psychiatric disorders (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder, depression), which are limited by heterogeneity and symptom overlap. We examined trajectories of cross-cutting posttraumatic symptom dimensions following traumatic injury and predictors of trajectory membership.

Methods: In this longitudinal study of 427 predominantly Hispanic/Latino traumatic injury survivors, posttraumatic psychopathology symptoms were assessed during hospitalization and approximately one and five months post-trauma. Using latent class growth analysis, we estimated trajectories of several posttraumatic symptom dimensions: re-experiencing, avoidance, anxious arousal, numbing, dysphoric arousal, loss, and threat. We then examined sociodemographic and trauma-related characteristics (measured during hospitalization) as predictors of trajectory membership for each dimension.

Results: Four trajectories (Resilient, Chronic, Delayed Onset, Recovery) emerged for all dimensions except loss and threat, which manifested three trajectories (Resilient, Chronic, Delayed Onset). Across dimensions, membership in the Chronic (vs. Resilient) trajectory was consistently predicted by unemployment (7 of 7 dimensions), followed by older age (3/7), female sex (3/7), and assaultive trauma (2/7). For several dimensions, unemployment also distinguished between participants who presented with similar symptom levels days after trauma, but then diverged over time.

Limitations: Measures of posttraumatic symptom dimension constructs differed across assessments.

Conclusions: This study provides evidence of distinct trajectories across transdiagnostic symptom dimensions after traumatic injury. Employment status emerged as the most important predictor of trajectory membership. Research is needed to better understand the etiologies and consequences of these posttraumatic symptom dimension trajectories.

Keywords: Posttraumatic psychopathology; Symptom dimension; Trajectory; Trauma.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Aged
Anxiety
Female
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Psychopathology*
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic* / diagnosis
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic* / epidemiology
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic* / etiology
Survivors

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

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