Predicting Health-Related Quality of Life in Trauma-Exposed Male Veterans in Late Midlife: A 20 Year Longitudinal Study

Samantha M. Stevens, Daniel E. Gustavson, Bin Fang, Xin Tu, Mark Logue, Michael J. Lyons, Chandra A. Reynolds, William S. Kremen and Carol E. Franz
Additional contact information
Samantha M. Stevens: Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
Daniel E. Gustavson: Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
Bin Fang: Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
Xin Tu: Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
Mark Logue: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
Michael J. Lyons: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
Chandra A. Reynolds: Department of Psychology, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
William S. Kremen: Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
Carol E. Franz: Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 12, 1-15

Abstract: Trauma-exposed adults with high levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) report poorer health-related quality of life (HRQOL), but less is known about the persistence of this relationship over time. Participants from the Vietnam Era Twin Study of Aging reported on PTSS, health, and sociodemographic characteristics at average age 38; 775 participants reported having been exposed to trauma. Later, at average ages 56 and 62, mental and physical HRQOL were assessed with the Short-Form 36. Premorbid risk for anxiety/neuroticism was evaluated with a polygenic risk score derived from a large genome-wide association study meta-analysis. In multivariate mixed models, having higher levels of PTSS, poorer self-rated health, lower income, and less education at age 38 were associated with worse physical and mental HRQOL two decades later. Chronic health problems at age 38 predicted midlife physical but not mental HRQOL. Although genetic risk for neuroticism was correlated with HRQOL and PTSS, it was no longer significant in multivariate models. Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) predicts morbidity and mortality independently of objective health measures; early interventions may help to mitigate the ongoing impact of trauma on quality of life.

Keywords: posttraumatic stress; PTSD; health related quality of life (HRQOL), neuroticism polygenic risk score; trauma; aging (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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