title: Greater prevalence and incidence of dementia in older veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder.
abstract: To explore the association between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and dementia in older veterans.
  
  
  METHODS
  Administrative database study of individuals seen within one regional division of the Veterans Affairs healthcare network.
  
  
  METHODS
  Veterans Integrated Service Network 16.
  
  
  METHODS
  Veterans aged 65 and older who had a diagnosis of PTSD or who were recipients of a Purple Heart (PH) and a comparison group of the same age with no PTSD diagnosis or PH were divided into four groups: those with PTSD and no PH (PTSD+/PH-, n=3,660), those with PH and no PTSD (PTSD-/PH+, n=1,503), those with PTSD and a PH (PTSD+/PH+, n=153), and those without PTSD or a PH (PTSD-/PH-, n=5,165).
  
  
  METHODS
  Incidence and prevalence of dementia after controlling for confounding factors in multivariate logistic regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The PTSD+/PH- group had a significantly higher incidence and prevalence of dementia than the groups without PTSD with or without a PH. The prevalence and incidence of a dementia diagnosis remained two times as high in the PTSD+/PH- group as in the PTSD-/PH+ or PTSD-/PH- group after adjusting for the confounding factors. There were no statistically significant differences between the other groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The incidence and prevalence of dementia is greater in veterans with PTSD. It is unclear whether this is due to a common risk factor underlying PTSD and dementia or to PTSD being a risk factor for dementia. Regardless, this study suggests that veterans with PTSD should be screened more closely for dementia. Because PTSD is so common in veterans, this association has important implications for veteran care.
authors.affiliation: Houston Center for Quality of Care and Utilization Studies, Health Services Research and Development Service, Houston, Texas, USA.
authors.forename: Salah U
authors.initials: SU
authors.lastname: Qureshi
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kimbrell
authors.forename: Jeffrey M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Pyne
authors.forename: Kathy M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Magruder
authors.forename: Teresa J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Hudson
authors.forename: Nancy J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Petersen
authors.forename: Hong-Jen
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Paul E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.forename: Mark E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Kunik
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003704:Dementia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014728:Veterans / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*