Women Vietnam Veterans: Do PTSD Symptoms Mediate Effects of Warzone Service on Health?

Abstract

We assessed the impact of warzone stress on the physical and mental health functioning and well-being of 975 female nurse veterans who had been deployed to Vietnam, and examined whether PTSD symptoms at the time of the survey mediated these relations. A questionnaire was mailed to the Women’s Vietnam Memorial Project members, approximately 25 – 30 years after their wartime service. We examined current physical and mental health functioning in relation to several measures of warzone stress and PTSD symptoms, adjusting for age, length of military service, and current physical health problems. Using regression models, we evaluated whether current PTSD symptoms mediated the effects of warzone stress on mental and physical health. Findings suggested that PTSD symptoms did mediate the relationship between warzone stress and mental, but not physical, health functioning in later life. These findings suggest that among women nurses deployed to Vietnam, the effects of warzone stress many years earlier on current functioning and well-being are both direct and indirect, mediated by PTSD symptoms. The legacy of wartime deployment remains, although muted in its expression, in military nurses nearly 30 years after their return.

Women at war: The crucible of Vietnam

“…Our research team has already reported on associations between poorer physical and mental health outcomes in later life and higher reported warzone stress exhibited by the deployed nurses in this cohort. We found that their PTSD symptoms mediated the effect of warzone stressors on their mental, but not physical, health functioning ( Pless Kaiser, Spiro, Lee and Stellman 2012 ). In another study, we found cumulative trauma exposure (childhood and adulthood trauma, and combat) to be related to poorer mental and physical health functioning, with each type of trauma uniquely contributing to outcomes.…”

“…2 ). We have previously found length of service to be an important factor related to outcomes ( Pless Kaiser et al, 2012 ). Therefore, throughout these analyses we have stratified the military women by length of service (short-term, middle and long-term career military).…”