PTSD symptoms, demographic characteristics, and functional status among veterans treated in VA primary care clinics

We hypothesized that PTSD symptomatology would have an inverse relationship with functional status and would vary as a function of sociodemographic variables. Primary care patients (N = 513) at two VA Medical Centers were randomly selected and recruited to participate. After adjustment for other demographic variables, PTSD symptom levels were significantly related to age ( younger patients had more severe symptoms), employment status ( disabled persons had higher symptom levels), war zone experience, and clinic location. PTSD symptomatology was inversely related to mental and physical functioning, even after control for potential confounding. These findings have implications for screening and service delivery in VA primary care clinics, and support the more general finding in the literature that PTSD is associated with impaired functioning.