Exploring heterogeneity in PTSD symptoms and associated predictors and outcomes in Afghanistan veterans: A latent profile analysis

Figures & data

Table 1. Model fit indices for latent profile analysis of PTSD symptoms among Norwegian military veterans.

	AIC	BIC	ABIC	Entropy	LMR LR Test p-values	ALMR LR Test p-value	Sample proportion per class	Classification accuracy	BLRT p-value
1-Profile	105703.099	105917.156	105809.119				4007
2-Profiles	88781.589	89108.970	88943.738	.983	.0061	.0064	(3617; 90%), (390; 10%)	.980–.997	.000
3-Profiles	81928.969	82369.675	82147.246	.977	.2039	.2053	(3392; 85%), (522; 13%), (93; 2%)	.969–.993	.000
4-Profiles	73028.749	73582.779	73303.155	.986	.7521	.7522	(114; 3%), (457; 11%), (3409; 85%), (27; 1%)	.995–1.000	.000
5-Profiles	70021.943	70689.298	70352.477	.985	.7687	.7687	(150; 4%), (113; 3%), (3345; 83%), (372; 9%), (27; 1%)	.961–1.000	.000
6-Profiles	66069.082	66849.761	66455.744	.982	.4483	.4483	(35; 1%), (105; 3%), (3216; 80%), (439; 11%), (193; 4%), (19; 1%)	.944–1.000	.000

AIC = Akaike information criterion; BIC = Bayesian information criterion; ABIC = Sample-size adjusted BIC; LMR LR = Vuong-Lo-Mendell-Rubin Likelihood Ratio Test; ALMR LR = Lo-Mendell-Rubin Adjusted LRT Test; BLRT = Bootstrap likelihood ratio test.

Figure 1. Profile plot showing levels of PTSD symptoms from the PCL-17.

Figure 2. Bar graph showing standardized profile scores of PTSD symptoms from the PCL-17.

Table 2. Multinomial logistic regression parameters predicting profile membership.

	High Numbing and Arousal profile		High Symptom profile
Predictors	OR	95% CI	OR	95% CI
Reference Class = Low Symptoms profile
Gender (Males)	1.03	[0.662, 1.606]	0.36*	[0.153, 0.971]
Age	0.98*	[0.965, 0.991]	0.97	[0.938, 1.006]
Number of deployments	0.98	[0.924, 1.048]	0.67**	[0.500, 0.894]
Cohabitation	0.84	[0.666, 1.069]	0.58*	[0.355, 0.955]
Social support	0.78***	[0.735, 0.824]	0.73***	[0.656, 0.821]
Barriers to disclose	1.30***	[1.234, 1.360]	1.80***	[1.591, 2.041]
Personal threat	1.06	[0.997, 1.122]	1.05	[0.924, 1.118]
Traumatic witnessing	1.03	[0.981, 1.086]	1.09	[0.986, 1.208]
Potentially morally injurious events	1.15***	[1.070, 1.238]	1.32***	[1.158, 1.511]
Reference Class = High Numbing and Arousal profile
Gender (Males)			0.37*	[0.142, 0.985]
Age			0.99	[0.959, 1.030]
Number of deployments			0.68*	[0.507, 0.911]
Cohabitation			0.69	[0.417, 1.144]
Social support			0.94	[0.842, 1.056]
Barriers to disclose			1.39***	[1.230, 1.573]
Personal threat			0.99	[0.872, 1.126]
Traumatic witnessing			1.06	[0.952, 1.174]
Potentially morally injurious events			1.15*	[1.014, 1.302]

*p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.

Table 3. Comparisons for outcomes across profiles.

	Low Symptoms profile (85%)	High Numbing and Arousal profile (13%)	High Symptoms profile (2%)
Outcomes	Probability endorsing Yes compared to endorsing No			Overall chi-square test
Suicidal ideation
Yes	0.01	0.16	0.38	100.99***^a,b,c
No	0.99	0.84	0.62
Attempted suicide
Yes	0.00	0.02	0.04	7.76*^a
No	1.00	0.98	0.96
Lifetime mental health service use
Yes	0.04	0.17	0.37	73.32*** ^a,b,c
No	0.96	0.83	0.63

a = Low symptoms profile vs. High numbing and arousal profile, p < .001.

b = Low symptoms profile vs. High symptoms profile, p < .01.

c = High numbing and arousal profile vs. High symptoms profile, p < .001.

Data availability statement

Data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.