CONVERGENT VALIDITY OF MEASURES OF PTSD IN AN ELDERLY POPULATION OF FORMER PRISONERS OF WAR

Thirty former World War II Far East prisoners of war were assessed with a structured clinical interview for PTSD based on DSM-III-R criteria and the results compared with the self-report measures. Thirty per cent of the subjects fulfilled a DSM-III-R diagnosis of PTSD and 90% complained of at least one post traumatic intrusive or avoidant symptom. The Mississippi scale was the most accurate measure of PTSD severity (r=0.81) and the MMPI-PTSD subscale was the most efficient dichotomous measure of PTSD (sensitivity=0.89 and specificity = 0.62). The avoidance subscale of the impact of event scale did not discriminate avoidant symptoms from those of intrusion. Self-report scales for chronic PTSD used in the elderly should be interpreted with caution and require further evaluation of their validity.