WWII trauma impacts physical and mental health in the oldest old: results from a German population-based study

Abstract

Introduction

Epidemiological studies in different traumatised samples indicate an increased risk for numerous physical and mental diseases. It is suspected that this is due to chronic changes in fundamental processes in the immune, nervous, and endocrine systems, which take years to manifest pathologically. Previous studies have considered intervals of a few decades. However, little is known about whether a link between trauma and physical and mental health can be established over very long periods of time and in the oldest old population.

Materials and methods

A total of 1,299 German citizens aged 80 and above were interviewed about on-going suffering from the effects of traumatic World War II (WWII) events as well as about physical and mental health. Multiple linear and logistic regression models were used to assess the impact of suffering from the effects of traumatic events on general health, several medical conditions, multimorbidity, pain, and depression.

Results

43.94% of the oldest old were still suffering from the effects of traumatic events in connection with WWII. Participants who were still suffering from the effects of traumatic events were more likely to be treated for heart failure, blood diseases, bladder problems, back pain, respiratory or lung diseases, and sleep disorders. They also had poorer general health, higher multimorbidity, more pain, and higher depression scores.

Discussion

Findings suggest that chronic psychological suffering from the effects of traumatic events in early life is associated with impaired physical and mental health even seven decades after the events.

Keywords:

• World War II
• morbidity
• medical condition
• depression
• allostatic load

Acknowledgements

The project NRW80+ is part of the Key Research Area ‘Aging and Demographic Change’ (Speaker: Susanne Zank) at the Cologne Center for Ethics, Rights, Economics, and Social Sciences of Health (ceres; Director: Christiane Woopen) at the University of Cologne. Members of the project board are Christian Rietz, Michael Wagner, Christiane Woopen and Susanne Zank.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Research of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia under Grant [23-8.03-125240].