Characteristics and Correlates of Ten-Year Trajectories of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in Older US Military Veterans

Objectives: To examine the nature and correlates of 10-year trajectories of post -traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in older U.S. military Veterans. Design and Setting: A nationally representative web-based survey of older U.S. Veterans who participated in the National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study over 5 waves between 2011 and 2021. Participants: A total of 1,843 U. S. Veterans aged 50 and older (mean age = 67). Measurements: PTSD symp-toms were assessed using the PTSD Checklist. Self-report measures at baseline assessed sociodemographic characteristics; trauma exposures; psychiatric and substance use disorders; mental, cognitive, and physical functioning; and psy-chosocialfactors including expectations of aging. Latent growth mixture model-ing identified the nature and correlates of 10-year PTSD symptom trajectories. Results: Most of the sample had no/low PTSD symptoms (88.7%), while 6.0% had consistently subthreshold symptoms, 2.7% consistently high symptoms, and 2.6% increasing symptoms. Relative to the no/low symptom group, the sub-threshold and high symptom groups reported more medical conditions and cog-nitive difficulties, with younger age and more lifetime traumatic events additionally linked to the high symptom trajectory. Relative to the no/low symp-tom group, Veterans with increasing symptoms were more likely to report func-tional disability and lifetime nicotine use disorder, cognitive difficulties, negative