Somatic symptoms and health-related quality of life among treatment-seeking Canadian Forces personnel with PTSD

This study examined the association between somatic complaints and health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) in treatment-seeking Canadian military personnel with military-related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Current and former Canadian Forces (CF) members attending the Parkwood Hospital Operational Stress Injury Clinic in London, Ontario (N=291) were administered self-report questionnaires assessing number and severity of somatic complaints, PTSD and depressive symptom severity, and mental and physical health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) prior to commencing treatment. Regression analyses were used to identify the role of somatic complaints on physical and mental HR-QoL, after controlling for PTSD symptom cluster and depressive symptom severity. Somatic symptom severity accounted for only a small amount of the variance in mental HR-QoL after accounting for PTSD symptom cluster and depressive symptom severity, but accounted for a larger proportion of the variance in physical HR-QoL after accounting for PTSD cluster and depressive symptom severity. Understanding the role of somatization in the symptom-presentation of military personnel with PTSD may provide additional avenues for treatment with this population.