Regular Article/Highlights of ISTSS 2006 Annual Meeting
Continuing controversy over the psychological risks of Vietnam for U.S. veterans
Bruce P. Dohrenwend,
J. Blake Turner,
Nicholas A. Turse,
Ben G. Adams,
Karestan C. Koenen,
Randall Marshall,
Corresponding Author
Bruce P. Dohrenwend
Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University; Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University; and New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY
Social Psychiatry Research Unit, Columbia University, 100 Haven Avenue, Tower 3-19E, New York, NY 10032Search for more papers by this authorJ. Blake Turner
Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, and New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY
Search for more papers by this authorNicholas A. Turse
Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY
Search for more papers by this authorBen G. Adams
Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY
Search for more papers by this authorKarestan C. Koenen
Department of Society, Human Development, and Health; Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Harvard University; and Department of Psychiatry, Boston University, Boston, MA
Search for more papers by this authorRandall Marshall
Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY
Search for more papers by this authorBruce P. Dohrenwend,
J. Blake Turner,
Nicholas A. Turse,
Ben G. Adams,
Karestan C. Koenen,
Randall Marshall,
Corresponding Author
Bruce P. Dohrenwend
Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University; Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University; and New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY
Social Psychiatry Research Unit, Columbia University, 100 Haven Avenue, Tower 3-19E, New York, NY 10032Search for more papers by this authorJ. Blake Turner
Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, and New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY
Search for more papers by this authorNicholas A. Turse
Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY
Search for more papers by this authorBen G. Adams
Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY
Search for more papers by this authorKarestan C. Koenen
Department of Society, Human Development, and Health; Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Harvard University; and Department of Psychiatry, Boston University, Boston, MA
Search for more papers by this authorRandall Marshall
Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
In 1988, the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study (NVVRS) reported 30.9% lifetime and 15.2% current rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and a strong dose/response relationship with retrospective reports of combat exposure. Skeptics argued that recall bias and other flaws inflated the results. Using a new record-based exposure measure and diagnoses in an NVVRS subsample, the authors addressed this controversy in a recent issue of Science (B. P. Dohrenwend et al., 2006). They found little evidence of falsification, an even stronger dose/response relationship and, when fully adjusted for impairment and evidence of exposure, 18.7% onset and 9.1% current rates of war-related PTSD. The fact that these rates are lower than the original NVVRS rates has stimulated continuing controversy that has tended to obscure the more important implications of the study's results.
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