Search

Among traumatized Cambodian ( N=90) and Vietnamese ( N=94) refugees attending a psychiatric clinic, the study examined the validity and psychometric properties of the Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36), a measure of self-perceived mental and physical health. In both patient samples, all eight SF-36 scales displayed excellent internal consistency (item-scale correlations and Cronbach's α). But, similar to other studies of Asian samples, (a) the Vitality (VT) scale did not separate from the Mental Health (MH) and General Health (GH) scales, as evidenced by item-scale and interscale correlations, and (b) the VT scale loaded as strongly (Vietnamese sample) or more strongly (Cambodian sample) than the MH scale on the so-called Mental Factor in a two-factor solution of the eight scales (with the GH scale also loading heavily on the same factor). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assesses the efficacy of fluvoxamine treatment on different domains of subjective sleep quality in Vietnam combat veterans with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Medically healthy male Vietnam theater combat veterans (N = 21) completed a 10-week open label trial. Fluvoxamine treatment led to improvements in PTSD symptoms and all domains of subjective sleep quality. The largest effect was for dreams linked to the traumatic experience in combat. In contrast, generic unpleasant dreams showed only a modest response to treatment. Sleep maintenance insomnia and the item “troubled sleep” showed a large treatment response, whereas sleep onset insomnia improved less substantially. These therapeutic benefits contrast with published reports that have found activating effects of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors on the sleep electroencephalogram. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resting heart rate (HR), systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBF) were measured on 3 successive mornings in the homes of drug-free Vietnam combat veterans, classified on the basis of DSM-III-R criteria into current posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; n = 20) or non-PTSD ( n = 15). Responses to three generic stressor challenges (orthostatic, mental arithmetic, and cold pressor) were also measured. In the orthostatic stressor condition, DBP increased over time in the non-PTSD, but not in the PTSD, veterans, suggesting a paradoxically reduced autonomic response in PTSD. There were no other significant group differences in resting levels or responses to any of the challenges for any measure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]