Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects about 20% of US military veterans and is a major cause of mortality in these men and women. The incidence of PTSD has persisted over the last decade with the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, yet treatment and adherence remain inadequate in part due to clinician lack of knowledge about cognitive processing therapy and prolonged exposure, the proven gold standards in treatment. This article reviews the most current and successful PTSD treatment options and identifies risk factors for patient nonadherence in hopes of reducing the rate of veteran suicide related to PTSD.

Older adults account for an increasingly large proportion of the population. These patients have more comorbidities as well as indications for surgical interventions. Current preoperative risk assessment tools have limited utility. This article describes methods of assessing patient frailty, which offers superior predictive power about postoperative complications, discharge disposition, and mortality.