Short-term memory in Croatian war veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder

To assess short-term memory impairment in war veterans with combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The study included 20 war veterans diagnosed with PTSD and 21 control subjects matched for age, sex, and education level. Both groups were tested with the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (ROCFT), consisting of Copy, Immediate Recall, and Delayed Recall steps, and Benton Visual Retention Test (BVRT). Subjects with visuoperceptive and visuoconstructional deficits, as indicated by their ROCFT Copy scores were excluded from the analysis, because this type of cognitive deficit could interfere with the results of the next two ROCFT steps measuring short-term memory. Subjects with PTSD scored significantly lower than control subjects on both Immediate Recall (mean+/-standard deviation [SD], 16.3+/-6.4 vs 26.7+/-4.5, respectively; P