Ptsd_Linked_to_Higher_Post-Surgery_Death_Rate

PTSD linked to higher post-surgery death rate Author: Elizabeth Landau Posttraumatic stress disorder also referred to as PTSD is a severe anxiety disorder that can happen after exposure to any event which results in psychological trauma. PTSD has also been recognized in the past as railway spine, stress syndrome, shell shock, battle fatigue, traumatic war neurosis, or post-traumatic stress syndrome. Symptoms of PTSD include re-experiencing original trauma(s), by means of flashbacks, nightmares, difficulty falling or staying asleep, and anger. Recent studies suggest Post-traumatic stress disorder may be a condition of the mind, but a new study suggests it may be associated with death after surgery. Study shows that veterans with PTSD were more likely to die1 year after surgery than those without the disease, no matter the years that passed since their service. According to the Mayo clinic, symptoms such as nightmares, anxiety, and social withdrawal along with others usually happens within three months of a traumatic event. This disorder has also been associated with alcohol and drug abuse, smoking, obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. About 6.8 percent of adult Americans have had PTSD at some point in their lives, according to a 2005 survey cited by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Also, veterans of the Vietnam war was 30 percent in men and 27 percent in women have had PTSD. Researchers focused on male patients treated between 1998 and 2008 at the VA San Francisco Medical Center. These patients had their first elective noncardiac major surgery requiring hospital admission during that time. The authors relied on information that was already recorded and did not interview any patients. Of the 1,792 male veterans, 129 or 7.2% had a diagnosis of PTSD on the day of surgery, and the rest did not. One year after surgery, 8.5 percent of the patients with PTSD had died, compared with 6.8 percent of patients who did not have the psychiatric disorder, representing a 25 percent increased risk for those with PTSD. Furthermore, researchers also found out that patients with PTSD tended to be younger. The average age for patients to have surgery is almost 60 years old, while the average non-PTSD patient was 64. This is the first research to examine the mortality of patients with PTSD after surgery, said study author Dr. Marek Brzezinski, anesthesiologist and assistant professor at the University of California, San Francisco. It seems that the surgery or another factor underlying the surgery most influenced the deaths of patients. Very soon Dr. Brzezinski is planning a follow-up study and will follow the outcomes of patients with and without PTSD. The findings and complications before and after surgery make sense given that the disorder has been associated with poor eating, heart disease, and high blood pressure says Dr. Israel Liberzon, professor of psychiatry at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Also, the disorder itself which involves the major stress systems of the body leads to an even worse recovery from surgeries. For example, one patient feels like being in a cage with a tiger and that’s permanent stress. This stress changes how patients view everything in their life and how their body works. Unlike the normal stress of everyday life, people with this disorder experience lifelong stress. It is stated that older veterans tend to have more long lasting PTSD than younger veterans. While both age-groups have traumatic memories and sleep difficulties, the older veterans tend to have more anger outbursts, thoughts and dreams about the trauma.