Post-traumatic stress following military deployment: Genetic associations and cross-disorder genetic correlations.

Background: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a complex psychiatric disorder that occurs with relatively high frequency after deployment to warzones (∼10%). While twin studies have estimated the heritability to be up to 40%, thus indicating a considerable genetic component in the etiology, the biological mechanisms underlying risk and development of PTSD remain unknown.

Methods: Here, we conduct a genome-wide association study (GWAS; N = 2,481) to identify genome regions that associate with PTSD in a highly homogenous, trauma-exposed sample of Danish soldiers deployed to war and conflict zones.

Replicability and Generalizability of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Networks: A Cross-Cultural Multisite Study of PTSD Symptoms in Four Trauma Patient Samples.

The growing literature conceptualizing mental disorders like posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as networks of interacting symptoms faces three key challenges. Prior studies predominantly used (a) small samples with low power for precise estimation, (b) nonclinical samples, and (c) single samples. This renders network structures in clinical data, and the extent to which networks replicate across data sets, unknown.

Does size really matter? A multisite study assessing the latent structure of the proposed ICD-11 and DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for PTSD.

: Researchers and clinicians within the field of trauma have to choose between different diagnostic descriptions of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the DSM-5 and the proposed ICD-11. Several studies support different competing models of the PTSD structure according to both diagnostic systems; however, findings show that the choice of diagnostic systems can affect the estimated prevalence rates. : The present study aimed to investigate the potential impact of using a large (i.

Are Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms Related to Mental Health Service Use? A Prospective Study of Danish Soldiers Deployed to Afghanistan.

Background: Investigating the use of mental health services by combat veterans can help illuminate utilization and unmet needs of this population. The aims of this study were to estimate the use of mental health services and to examine how such use is associated with self-reported symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in soldiers before and after deployment to Afghanistan.

Methods: Prospectively, 703 Danish soldiers who deployed from January 2009 to August 2009 were followed up with 6 assessments from predeployment to 2.

The influence of pre-deployment cognitive ability on post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms and trajectories: The Danish USPER follow-up study of Afghanistan veterans.

Objective: New trajectories of PTSD symptoms have recently been identified in war exposed army veterans. The aim of this army veterans study was to examine whether pre-deployment cognitive ability is associated with the risk of developing PTSD symptoms or non-resilient PTSD trajectories.

Method: Follow up study in 428 Danish soldiers, deployed to Afghanistan in 2009, who were assessed at six occasions from pre-deployment to three years post-deployment.

Latent trajectories of trauma symptoms and resilience: the 3-year longitudinal prospective USPER study of Danish veterans deployed in Afghanistan.

Objective: To identify trajectories of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms from before to 2.5 years after deployment and to assess risk factors for symptom fluctuations and late-onset PTSD.

Method: 743 soldiers deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 were assessed for PTSD symptoms using the PTSD Checklist (PCL) at 6 occasions from predeployment to 2.