Age at trauma exposure and PTSD risk in young adult women

Abstract

The aim of the current study was to test the independent and joint contributions of 8 different types of trauma to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) risk using data from a young adult female cohort. Associations of traumatic events with PTSD onset were examined using Cox proportional hazards models. Differences in risk as a function of age at trauma were tested. Childhood sexual assault, physical abuse, and neglect were stronger predictors of PTSD onset than adolescent and early adult occurrence of these events in individual models. In a model including all traumatic events, differential risk by age remained for sexual assault and physical abuse. Early sexual assault was the strongest predictor of risk, but additional traumatic events increased risk even in its presence.