A pilot study on perceived stress and PTSD symptomatology in relation to four dimensions of older women's physical health

Abstract

Objectives: The authors examined whether selected demographic and psychological factors would predict physical health dimensions in a sample of 53 cognitively high-functioning and ethnically diverse women (age 65–105).

Method: Predictors encompassed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology and perceived stress (of a nontraumatic nature and beyond health status) in relation to all dimensions of physical health of the Medical Outcome Study 36-item Short Form Health Survey (MOS SF-36); (Ware, J.E., & Sherbourne, C.D., 1992). The MOS 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36): I. Conceptual framework and item selection. Medical Care, 30(6), 473–483). Age and income, well-known correlates of health in the target population, were included as potential predictors. The authors first tested the relationship between potential predictors and health dimensions via a canonical correlation analysis, and then employed full multiple regression analyses to simultaneously test the predictors in each health dimension model.

Results: Perceived stress was a significant predictor of lower levels of general health (GH), but not of role limitations or physical functioning (PF). Conversely, PTSD symptomatology predicted more limitations in role fulfillment (and, to a lesser extent, impaired PF), but not lower levels of GH. As expected, age and income were predictive of some physical health dimensions. The hypothesized predictors failed to account for a significant portion of variance in pain scores.

Conclusion: PTSD symptomatology and perceived stress might influence older women's physical health dimensions differentially; additional research on larger samples is needed to corroborate these findings.

Keywords:

• physical functioning
• posttraumatic stress disorder
• distress
• ethnic minorities

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by NIH SCORE grant # 2 S06 GM048680-12A1 and NIH NIGMS MARC grant # 2T34 GM00835, Luciana Laganà, Principal Investigator. We thank Dr. Kubany for offering us to use his PTSD screener in this research, as well as Dr. Andrew Ainsworth, this study's statistical consultant, for his careful input.