High Rate of PTSD in Female Vietnam Veterans

Study: High rate of PTSD among female Vietnam War vets 
Stars and Stripes
By Nancy Montgomery
Published: October 9, 2015

“Vietnam service significantly increased the odds of PTSD relative to U.S. service; this effect appears to be related to wartime exposures, especially sexual discrimination or harassment and job performance pressures,” the study concludes.

The Vietnam Women's Memorial in Washington, D.C. Women who served in Vietnam suffer significant rates of post-traumatic stress disorder decades after the war, partly because of the pervasive sexual harassment and discrimination they faced, according to a new JAMA study.

MICHAEL ABRAMS/STARS AND STRIPES

Female Vietnam War veterans suffer significant rates of post-traumatic stress disorder decades after the war, partly because of the sexual harassment and discrimination they faced while attending to the wounded and dying, according to a new study.

Of the women surveyed, 20 percent experienced PTSD at some point after the war, according to the study published this week in JAMA Psychiatry, a publication of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Most of these women were nurses. Nearly 16 percent currently suffered from the disorder at the time of the study.

By contrast, among military women of the era who remained in the United States, 14 percent had experienced PTSD, with 9 percent still suffering from it. Women who served near Vietnam — for example, in Thailand or the Philippines — had the lowest rates of the disorder: 11.5 percent experienced PTSD and 8 percent currently had the disorder.

The study, funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs, is based on surveys and phone interviews of more than 4,000 Vietnam-era female veterans. Of these, 1,956 had been stationed in Vietnam, mostly in the Army; 657 had served nearby on bases in Asia, mostly in the Air Force; and 1,606 had served in the U.S.

“I truly hope that this study will help the women who served so admirably during the Vietnam era, as they have been overlooked for a long time,” co-author Kathryn Magruder, who is affiliated with the Ralph H. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Charleston, S.C., said in an email. “It’s never too late to do the right thing.”
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