Study Links Stress, Early Abuse

WASHINGTON — A study of Vietnam War veterans suggests that childhood abuse may raise the risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder after combat.

Veterans who sought treatment for the stress disorder, sometimes called PTSD, were more likely to report having been sexually or physically abused as children than were veterans without the disorder, the study found.

Co-author Dr. J. Douglas Bremner, a Yale University psychiatrist who also works at the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder’s division of clinical neurosciences, at the West Haven Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Connecticut, stressed that the disorder is caused by the combat itself rather than childhood abuse.

The finding just suggests that childhood abuse may make a person more vulnerable to a later stress disorder from combat, he said.

The study included a relatively small sample so further research should be done to see if the result can be confirmed, he said.

The new study compared 38 Vietnam combat veterans seeking help for PTSD with 28 Vietnam combat veterans seeking help for medical problems. Based on a questionnaire and an interview, 29% of the PTSD group reported having been physically or sexually abused or both as children. Only 7% of the other group reported the childhood problems.