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Elderly patients should be assessed for PTSD

Last Updated: 2008-06-23 12:57:23 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is
not unusual in elderly patients. A lifetime diagnosis of PTSD is
associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety in this population,
according to findings published in the Journal of Clinical
Psychiatry.

Dr. Carsten Spitzer, of Universitatsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf in
Hamburg, Germany and colleagues examined the risk of exposure to
trauma and subsequent PTSD in 3,170 German adults. The participants
were classified as young (44 years and younger), middle-aged (between
45 and 64 years), or elderly (65 years and older).

As the name suggests, PTSD is an anxiety disorder that may develop
following exposure to a physical or psychological trauma, resulting in
symptoms such as persistent frightening thoughts and memories of the
event; emotional detachment from loved ones, especially those the
patient was formerly close to; and sleep problems.

Overall, 1,730 subjects (54.6 percent) reported at least one traumatic
experience. The odds for trauma exposure were almost four times higher
in the elderly compared with the younger age groups. Elderly subjects
also had a significantly higher number of traumatic experiences (2.06)
than middle-aged subjects (1.31) and young adults (1.34).

The risk for trauma exposure in general was significantly higher in
elderly men vs. elderly women. There were no gender differences in
PTSD prevalence rates, however.

Elderly subjects who had been diagnosed with PTSD had significantly
higher odds for having any psychiatric syndrome than those without
PTSD. Depression and anxiety were the most common conditions.

These findings indicate that exposure to trauma is common among older
adults in the community and that PTSD is a fairly common consequence,
Spitzer and colleagues conclude. They suggest that physicians
routinely evaluate their elderly patients for trauma and post-
traumatic stress.

SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Psychiatry May 2008.

Copyright © 2008 Reuters

URL: http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2008/06/23/eline/links/20080623elin026.html