title: Typologies of posttraumatic stress disorder in treatment-seeking older adults.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  While it is well known that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by heterogeneous symptom clusters, little is known about predominant typologies of PTSD symptoms in older adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  Latent profile analyses (LPAs) were employed to evaluate predominant typologies of PTSD symptoms in a sample of 164 treatment-seeking older adults with childhood war-related trauma. Multinomial logistic regressions were conducted to evaluate predictors of class membership.
  
  
  RESULTS
  LPAs revealed that a 3-class solution best fit the data. These included an Intermediate Disturbance class (50.0%) and two Pervasive Disturbance classes, which differed with respect to severity of avoidance symptoms (Pervasive Disturbance-Low Avoidance: 33.5%, Pervasive Disturbance-High Avoidance: 16.5%). A greater number of traumatic events predicted membership in the Pervasive Disturbance classes. The Pervasive Disturbance-Low Avoidance class had a higher level of education than the Pervasive Disturbance-High Avoidance class. Compared to the Intermediate Disturbance class, the Pervasive Disturbance classes had the highest levels of depression, anxiety and somatization symptoms.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that PTSD in treatment-seeking older adults may be characterized by three predominant typologies, which are differentiated by overall severity and avoidance symptoms, lifetime trauma burden, education level, and comorbid depression, anxiety, and somatization symptoms. These results underscore the importance of considering heterogeneity in the phenotypic presentation of PTSD in assessment and treatment approaches for this disorder in older adults.
authors.affiliation: Berlin Center for Torture Victims,Berlin,Germany.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Böttche
authors.affiliation: United States Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder,VA Connecticut Healthcare System,West Haven,CT,USA.
authors.forename: Robert H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Pietrzak
authors.affiliation: Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University,Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the HELIOS Hansehospital Stralsund,Germany.
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kuwert
authors.affiliation: Berlin Center for Torture Victims,Berlin,Germany.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Knaevelsrud
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D001008:Anxiety Disorders; D015897:Comorbidity; D003863:Depression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000145:classification*; D063189:Symptom Assessment
keywords: PTSD