Abstract
BackgroundIndividuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are more likely to undertake harmful health behaviors like substance use. Less is known about the association of PTSD with healthful behaviors such as healthy diet and exercise. The purpose of this study was to examine differences across physical health indicators and health behaviors in individuals with and without PTSD.MethodsA cross-sectional, case–control study of health indicators and self-reported health behaviors in a community and military veteran sample was used.ResultsBased on a structured psychiatric interview, 25 participants had PTSD, and the remaining 55 without PTSD served as the comparison group. Participants were 40 years old on average and 45% were female. Multivariate analysis of variance analyses revealed that participants with PTSD had significantly higher body mass index (p = 0.004), had more alcohol use (p = 0.007), and reported fewer minutes of vigorous exercise (p = 0.020) than those without PTSD. Chi-square analysis of diet content and eating behavior constructs found that individuals with PTSD ate fewer fruits (p = 0.035) and had more guilt after overeating (p = 0.006).ConclusionsThese findings replicate prior research on the link between PTSD and negative health outcomes and engagement in harmful health behaviors and highlight the need for further examination of the association between PTSD and other health behaviors like diet content, eating behaviors, and exercise.
Highlights
Individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are more likely to undertake harmful health behaviors like substance use
While most individuals recover from trauma-related symptoms, such as intrusive thoughts, numbing, and hyperarousal, some will develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a persistence of symptoms severe enough to impair daily functioning
The primary aims of this study were (1) to replicate findings that individuals with PTSD have worse outcomes across physical health indicators in a relatively healthy sample free from significant chronic health conditions, (2) to further examine whether individuals with PTSD engage more in negative health behaviors like alcohol use and less in positive health behaviors like exercise, and (3) to preliminarily examine differences in a brief assessment of eating behaviors and diet content in individuals with PTSD compared to non-PTSD controls
Summary
Individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are more likely to undertake harmful health behaviors like substance use. While most individuals recover from trauma-related symptoms, such as intrusive thoughts, numbing, and hyperarousal, some will develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a persistence of symptoms severe enough to impair daily functioning. PTSD has psychiatric implications but may have a significant effect on health, further impairing functioning and quality of life. PTSD appears to negatively affect physical health functioning even more than other mental disorders like panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and major depressive disorder [9], and PTSD negatively impacts physical health to a greater extent than commonly comorbid conditions, like substance use disorders [10]. Individuals with PTSD have increased rates of chronic health conditions like obesity [11,12,13], diabetes [14], hypertension [15,16], heart disease [17,18], and metabolic and cardiovascular diseases [17,19,20]
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