Pre-trauma verbal ability at five years of age and the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder in adult males and females

• Published in: Journal of psychiatric research Vol. 46; no. 7; pp. 933 - 939
• Main Authors: Betts, Kim Steven, Williams, Gail M, Najman, Jacob M, Bor, William, Alati, Rosa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2012; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Age; Age Factors; Anxiety disorders. Neuroses; Behavioural problems; Biological and medical sciences; Checklist; Child, Preschool; Cognitive abilities; Cognitive functioning; Female; Gender; Gender differences; Humans; Infant; Life Change Events; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Medical sciences; Multivariate Analysis; Neuropsychological Tests; Post-traumatic stress disorder; Post-traumatic stress disorders; Posttraumatic stress disorder; Pregnancy; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects - physiopathology; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Risk Factors; Self Report; Sex Characteristics; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - etiology; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - psychology; Verbal ability; Verbal Behavior - physiology; Young Adult; Cognitive functioning; Gender differences; Post-traumatic stress disorders; Human; Anxiety disorder; Sex; Male; Cognition; Posttraumatic stress disorder; Gender; Trauma; Stress; Verbal ability; Language; Risk factor; Adult; Female; Age
• ISSN: 0022-3956; 1879-1379
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2012.04.002

Abstract Previous studies have shown that high cognitive ability, measured in childhood and prior to the experience of traumatic events, is protective of PTSD development. Our aim was to test if the association between pre-trauma verbal ability ascertained at 5 years with DSM-IV lifetime post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at 21 years was subject to effect modification by gender, trauma type or prior behaviour problems. Using a prospective birth cohort of young Australians, we found that both trauma type and behaviour problems did not change the association between cognitive ability and PTSD. During multivariate analysis, testing for the interactive effect of gender revealed that verbal ability was linearly and inversely associated with PTSD in females only, with those in the lowest verbal ability quintile having strongly increased odds of PTSD (OR = 3.89: 95% CI; 1.50, 10.10) compared with those in the highest quintile. A graph of the interaction revealed lower verbal ability placed females, but not males, at an increased risk of PTSD. Our results indicate that lower verbal ability in early childhood is a vulnerability factor for PTSD in females but not in males, and may constitute a gender-specific risk factor responsible for part of the increased risk of PTSD found in females compared with males.