Post-traumatic stress disorder’s hidden physical health toll

POST-TRAUMATIC stress disorder not only debilitates sufferer’s mental health, it also destroys their physical wellbeing, new research shows.

THE hidden toll of post-traumatic stress disorder on physical wellbeing has been quantified for the first time in a new study which shows sufferers are at greater risk of a string of crippling conditions.

Research released today reveals PTSD sufferers have a four times greater risk of stroke and twice the risk of sleep problems and stomach ulcers.

In total, they’re at higher risk of at least 10 conditions, including fatty liver, gastro-­intestinal conditions such as ­irritable bowel syndrome, and heart disease.

The study of nearly 300 Vietnam veterans, published in the Medical Journal of Australia, has prompted calls for doctors to reclassify PTSD as a “systemic condition”. A practitioner education program is to be announced today.

Gallipoli Medical Research Foundation chief executive Miriam Dwyer said it showed PTSD was not just a “wound of the mind” but affected the ­entire body.

She said that a new online education program would be launched to teach doctors about treating the physical side of PTSD, which could help ­improve the lives of a million Australians suffering with the condition.

The study, of PTSD sufferers aged 60 to 88 years, was a collaboration between University of Queensland, Gallipoli Medical Research Foundation, Queensland University of Technology and Greenslopes Private Hospital.

UQ Gallipoli Medical Research Institute director of research Darrell Crawford said healthcare providers needed to be aware of the physical conditions now known to be associated with PTSD.

“These veterans have had 50 years since their exposure to trauma and have got a number of health problems related to their illness,” he said. “This is a chronic disease and I think that’s what we’ve got to realise in the emerging veterans.”