A latent profile analysis of PTSD symptoms among UK treatment seeking veterans

Figures & data

Figure 1. Mean PTSD symptom cluster scores in the six latent profiles.

AAR = Alterations in arousal and reactivity; AV = Avoidance; NACM = Negative alterations in cognitions and mood

Table 1. Fit indices of the latent profile models of PTSD symptom clusters.

Model	AIC	BIC	SSABIC	LMRA p-value	BLRT p-value	Entropy
1 profile	4426.061	4457.707	4432.324	-	-	1.000
2 profiles	3857.887	3909.313	3868.065	<.001	<.001	0.868
3 profiles	3670.565	3741.770	3684.658	<.001	<.001	0.853
4 profiles	3615.676	3706.660	3633.684	.089	<.001	0.805
5 profiles	3582.001	3692.764	3603.924	.749	<.001	0.812
6 profiles	3555.646	3686.188	3581.483	.379	<.001	0.814
7 profiles	3532.674	3682.996	3562.426	.075	<.001	0.824

AIC = Akaike’s information criterion, BIC = Bayesian information criterion, BLRT = Bootstrapped likelihood ratio test, LMRA = Lo-Mendell-Rubin-adjusted likelihood ratio test, SSABIC = Sample size-adjusted BIC. Optimal model in bold.

Table 2. Mean PTSD symptom cluster scores by latent profile and differences between latent profiles.

	Profile
	Low (1)	M with low AV (2)	M with high AV (3)	M with lower NACM/AAR (4)	M with higher NACM/AAR (5)	Severe (6)
Symptom cluster	M (SD)	M (SD)	M (SD)	M (SD)	M (SD)	M (SD)
Intrusion	0.69 (0.65)	1.79 (0.84)	2.76 (0.77)	2.19 (0.72)	2.49 (0.84)	3.35 (0.61)
Avoidance	0.61 (0.58)	0.79 (0.57)	3.40 (0.48)	2.34 (0.59)	1.86 (0.56)	3.67 (0.43)
NACM	0.62 (0.46)	1.80 (0.60)	2.36 (0.47)	1.42 (0.49)	2.72 (0.45)	3.41 (0.35)
AAR	0.78 (0.53)	2.07 (0.42)	2.53 (0.50)	1.86 (0.59)	2.97 (0.49)	3.40 (0.41)
	Profile comparisons (Cohen’s d effect size*)
	1 vs 2	1 vs 3	1 vs 4	1 vs 5	1 vs 6	2 vs 3	2 vs 4	2 vs 5	2 vs 6	3 vs 4	3 vs 5	3 vs 6	4 vs 5	4 vs 6	5 vs 6
Intrusion	1.46	2.91	2.19	2.40	4.22	1.20	0.51	0.83	2.13	0.76	0.34	0.85	0.38	1.74	1.17
Avoidance	0.31	5.24	2.96	2.19	5.99	4.95	2.67	1.89	5.70	1.97	2.95	0.59	0.83	2.58	3.63
NACM	2.21	3.74	1.68	4.62	6.83	1.04	0.69	1.73	3.28	1.96	0.78	2.53	2.76	4.67	1.71
AAR	2.70	3.40	1.93	4.29	5.53	1.00	0.41	1.97	3.20	1.23	0.89	1.90	2.05	3.03	0.95

White box indicates a significant difference between the profiles on a given symptom cluster (Bonferroni-adjusted post-hoc tests), Grey box indicates no significant difference; *Size of effect: 0.2 = small, 0.5 = medium, 0.8 = large

Table 3. Descriptive statistics for the covariates in the full sample and each latent profile.

	Profile
Covariate	Full sample (N = 386)	Low symptom profile (n = 27)	Moderate with low avoidance (n = 31)	Moderate with high avoidance (n = 86)	Moderate with lower NACM/AAR (n = 41)	Moderate with higher NACM/AAR (n = 56)	Severe symptom profile (n = 145)
Age M (SD)	50.93 (12.74)	53.41 (16.03)	48.35 (11.76)	49.71 (12.70)	60.44 (12.47)	51.02 (12.99)	49.02 (11.08)
Childhood adversities M (SD)	6.56 (2.55)	5.96 (2.36)	6.65 (2.06)	6.66 (2.66)	5.07 (2.57)	6.96 (2.63)	6.86 (2.44)
Relationship N (%^):
In relationship	267 (69.17)	21 (77.78%)	21 (67.74%)	62 (72.09%)	27 (65.85%)	47 (83.93%)	89 (61.38%)
Single/Divorced/Separated/Widowed	119 (30.83)	6 (22.22%)	10 (32.26%)	24 (27.91%)	14 (34.15%)	9 (16.07%)	56 (38.62%)
Employment status N (%^):
Working	123 (31.87)	15 (55.56%)	16 (51.61%)	26 (30.23%)	13 (31.71%)	19 (33.93%)	34 (23.45%)
Not working	263 (68.13)	12 (44.44%)	15 (48.39%)	60 (69.77%)	28 (68.29%)	37 (66.07%)	111 (76.55%)
Time to contact CS N (%^):
< 5 years to contact	200 (51.81)	21 (77.78%)	19 (61.29%)	48 (55.81%)	16 (39.02%)	25 (44.64%)	71 (48.97%)
5+ years to contact	186 (48.19)	6 (22.22%)	12 (38.71%)	38 (44.19%)	25 (60.98%)	31 (55.36%)	74 (51.03%)
Common mental disorders N (%^):
Yes	275 (71.24)	6 (22.22%)	14 (45.16%)	61 (70.93%)	21 (51.22%)	46 (82.14%)	127 (87.59%)
No	111 (28.76)	21 (77.78%)	17 (54.84%)	25 (29.07%)	20 (48.78%)	10 (17.86%)	18 (12.41%)
Hazardous drinking N (%^):
Yes	163 (42.23)	6 (22.22%)	8 (25.81%)	34 (39.53%)	15 (36.59%)	27 (48.21%)	73 (50.34%)
No	223 (57.77)	21 (77.78%)	23 (74.19%)	52 (60.47%)	26 (63.41%)	29 (51.79%)	72 (49.66%)

^ % within profile

Table 4. Odds ratios (99% confidence intervals) for the covariates predicting latent profile membership.

Covariate	Low^ vs. Moderate with low AV	Low^ vs. Moderate with high AV	Low^ vs. Moderate with lower NACM and AAR	Low^ vs. Moderate with higher NACM and AAR	Low^ vs. Severe
Age	0.89 (0.75–1.05)	0.90 (0.79–1.02)	1.00 (0.91–1.10)	0.91 (0.80–1.05)	0.89 (0.79–1.01)
Childhood adversities	1.37 (0.72–2.58)	1.36 (0.82–2.24)	0.97 (0.62–1.52)	1.59 (0.81–3.11)	1.41 (0.86–2.30)
Relationship Single/Divorced/Separated/Widowed (Reference: In a relationship)	1.58 (0.12–20.94)	1.17 (0.16–8.69)	1.95 (0.27–13.96)	0.27 (0.01–12.68)	1.53 (0.23–10.18)
Not working (Reference: Working)	1.25 (0.12–12.92)	3.53 (0.49–25.62)	2.17 (0.21–22.20)	3.18 (0.36–28.04)	5.54 (0.79–38.76)
5+ years to contact (Reference: < 5 years)	6.69 (0.44–101.53)	5.86 (0.71–48.15)	4.97 (0.70–35.52)	12.74 (1.23–131.96)**	10.03 (1.30–77.23)**
Common mental health problems	6.86 (0.51–93.17)	15.06 (1.83–123.95)***	2.62 (0.32–21.37)	35.06 (3.30–372.52)***	48.13 (6.21–373.35)***
Hazardous drinking	1.35 (0.12–14.72)	2.57 (0.39–17.03)	2.72 (0.37–20.20)	4.56 (0.63–32.84)	3.95 (0.66–23.74)
	Moderate with low AV^ vs. Moderate with high AV	Moderate with low AV^ vs. Moderate with lower NACM and AAR	Moderate with low AV^ vs. Moderate with higher NACM and AAR	Moderate with low AV^ vs. Severe
Age	1.01 (0.93–1.11)	1.13 (1.00–1.27)**	1.03 (0.91–1.16)	1.01 (0.92–1.10)
Childhood adversities	0.99 (0.69–1.43)	0.71 (0.44–1.15)	1.16 (0.65–2.09)	1.03 (0.73–1.46)
Relationship Single/Divorced/Separated/Widowed (Reference: In a relationship)	0.74 (0.11–4.89)	1.24 (0.08–18.32)	0.17 (0.00–9.64)	0.97 (0.15–6.37)
Not working (Reference: Working)	2.82 (0.67–11.91)	1.73 (0.11–26.68)	2.54 (0.42–15.51)	4.43 (1.09–17.97)**
5+ years to contact (Reference: < 5 years)	0.88 (0.19–4.10)	0.74 (0.07–7.92)	1.90 (0.32–11.18)	1.50 (0.32–7.03)
Common mental health problems	2.19 (0.45–10.75)	0.38 (0.02–6.38)	5.11 (0.61–42.49)	7.01 (1.22–40.23)**
Hazardous drinking	1.90 (0.38–9.59)	2.01 (0.18–22.84)	3.37 (0.52–21.82)	2.92 (0.58–14.79)
	Moderate with high AV^ vs. Moderate with lower NACM and AAR	Moderate with high AV^ vs. Moderate with higher NACM and AAR	Moderate with high AV^ vs. Severe
Age	1.11 (1.03–1.20)***	1.02 (0.93–1.11)	0.99 (0.95–1.04)
Childhood adversities	0.71 (0.51–1.00)**	1.17 (0.67–2.04)	1.04 (0.82–1.31)
Relationship Single/Divorced/Separated/Widowed (Reference: In a relationship)	1.68 (0.28–9.86)	0.23 (0.01–9.51)	1.31 (0.45–3.78)
Not working (Reference: Working)	0.61 (0.06–6.76)	0.90 (0.20–3.99)	1.57 (0.54–4.56)
5+ years to contact (Reference: < 5 years)	0.85 (0.15–4.71)	2.17 (0.53–8.92)	1.71 (0.62–4.74)
Common mental health problems	0.17 (0.02–1.60)	2.33 (0.41–13.21)	3.20 (0.87–11.76)
Hazardous drinking	1.06 (0.15–7.43)	1.78 (0.45–7.02)	1.54 (0.52–4.54)
	Moderate with lower NACM and AAR^ vs. Moderate with higher NACM and AAR	Moderate with lower NACM and AAR^ vs. Severe
Age	0.91 (0.83–1.00)	0.89 (0.83–0.95)***
Childhood adversities	1.64 (0.97–2.79)	1.45 (1.10–1.92)**
Relationship Single/Divorced/Separated/Widowed (Reference: In a relationship)	0.14 (0.00–6.34)	0.78 (0.17–3.66)
Not working (Reference: Working)	1.47 (0.12–17.91)	2.56 (0.27–23.89)
5+ years to contact (Reference: < 5 years)	2.56 (0.35–18.83)	2.02 (0.42–9.59)
Common mental health problems	13.40 (1.18–152.62)**	18.39 (2.46–137.61)***
Hazardous drinking	1.68 (0.24–11.67)	1.45 (0.27–7.93)
	Moderate with higher NACM and AAR^ vs. Severe
Age	0.98 (0.91–1.05)
Childhood adversities	0.88 (0.56–1.39)
Relationship Single/Divorced/Separated/Widowed (Reference: In a relationship)	5.76 (0.19–178.11)
Not working (Reference: Working)	1.74 (0.45–6.68)
5+ years to contact (Reference: < 5 years)	0.79 (0.22–2.77)
Common mental health problems	1.37 (0.27–7.03)
Hazardous drinking	0.87 (0.30–2.53)

^ Reference group. AAR = Alterations in arousal and reactivity; AV = Avoidance; NACM = Negative alterations in cognitions and mood

*** ≤ .001; ** ≤ .01