Delayed-onset post-traumatic stress disorder among war veteransin primary care clinics

BackgroundOnly limited empirical data support the existence of delayed-onsetpost-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).AimsTo expand our understanding of delayed-onset PTSD prevalence andphenomenology.MethodA cross-sectional, epidemiological design (n = 747) incorporatingstructured interviews to obtain relevant information for analyses in amultisite study of military veterans.ResultsA small percentage of veterans with identified current PTSD (8.3%, 7/84),current subthreshold PTSD (6.9%, 2/29), and lifetime PTSD only (5.4%,2/37) met criteria for delayed onset with PTSD symptoms initiating morethan 6 months after the index trauma. Altogether only 0.4% (3/747) of theentire sample had current PTSD with delayed-onset symptoms developingmore than 1 year after trauma exposure, and no PTSD symptom onset wasreported more than 6 years posttrauma.ConclusionsRetrospective reports of veterans reveal that delayed-onset PTSD(current, subthreshold or lifetime) is extremely rare 1 year post-trauma,and there was no evidence of PTSD symptom onset 6 or more years aftertrauma exposure.