A Pilot study on the prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) Department Of Psychiatry Patients with combat experience from January 2013 - January 2015

ABSTRACT

Objectives@#The objectives of this pilot study was to establish the preliminary data on the prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among VMMC Department of Psychiatry In-Patients and Out-Patients with combat experience.@*Methodology@#It is a cross sectional study conducted by reviewing patients' charts. Case definition was based on the standardized ClinicianAdministered PTSD Scale (CAPS) - Filipino Version. In -patients were recruited directly while new and old OPD patients were recruited through chart review and invitations. Adequate combat exposure was measured with the United States Veterans Affairs Combat Exposure Scale (USVACES). Data was presented as lifetime and current prevalence among the exposed population.@*Results@#The study showed that 17.85% of the subjects (n=28) of this pilot study had a lifetime diagnosis of PTSD. None of the subjects reached the symptom threshold for a current diagnosis of PTSD. Three out of 19 subjects (15.78%) diagnosed with Schizophrenia had a lifetime diagnosis of PTSD while two out of five subjects (40%) with Bipolar I Disorder had comorbid lifetime diagnosis of PTSD. The number of subjects needed to power the study using Daniel's (1999) formula was N= 225.@*Conclusion@#The pilot study showed that the lifetime prevalence rate of PTSD among VMMC Psychiatry patients (17.85%) was comparable to worldwide trends. The study did not report any new occurrences of PTSD.