Table 1.

Distribution of war zone experiences and their associations with risk of war-related PTSD symptom syndrome (PSS) onset and current PSS

	%(n)a	War-related PSS Onset			Current PSS
		risk	RR	95% CI of RR	risk	RR	95% CI of RR
Whole Sample	100%(248)	21.7%			10.9%
COMBAT EXPOSURE
Based on the Military Record
Military Historical Measure
lowest severity	26.1% (38)	10.3%	ref		0.3%	ref
moderate severity	63.1% (152)	23.4%	2.28	(0.62–8.39)	12.3%	39.61	(8.47–99)b
high severity	7.8% (37)	40.1%	3.91	(0.92–16.58)	27.0%	87.16	(16.90–99)b
very high severity	3.0% (21)	38.7%	3.77*	(0.88–16.14)	33.6%	108.22*	(21.4–99)b
Purple Heart
No	90.9% (212)	19.8%	ref		9.1%	ref
Yes	9.1% (33)	45.9%	2.32	(1.24–4.32)	31.7%	3.47	(1.57–7.69)
Reported by Veterans
Count of Life Threatening Experiences
0–2	29.4% (44)	7.5%	ref		0.4%	ref
3–6	24.5% (62)	20.9%	2.78	(0.64–12.00)	8.5%	19.27	(3.44–99)
7–9	34.9% (89)	19.2%	2.54	(0.60–10.68)	7.6%	17.17	(3.33–88.6)
10–11	11.2% (50)	72.1%	9.55	(2.49–36.63)	56.3%	127.97	(29.0–99)b
Witnessed death of a close friend in unit
No	67.9% (125)	12.7%	ref		4.3%	ref
Yes	32.1% (119)	41.7%	3.28	(1.68–6.41)	25.3%	5.94	(2.52–13.99)
Betrayal involving life threat (friendly fire)
No	90.3% (224)	19.4%	ref		8.2%	ref
Yes	9.7% (22)	46.7%	2.40	(1.23–4.71)	38.2%	4.65	(2.12–10.21)
Killed enemy
No	66.4% (126)	15.1%	ref		4.6%	ref
Yes	33.6% (106)	34.9%	2.31	(1.20–4.45)	23.7%	5.17	(2.21–12.10)

^*Trend test for increasing risk by increasing severity of Military Historical Measure score is significant, p=.016 for PSS Onset, p<.0001 for Current PSS.

^aAll percents are weighted to represent population estimates. N’s are raw sample sizes. Total n does not always total 248 due to missing values on exposure or harm variables.

^bCI value of 99 represents extreme upper limit estimate due to small risk in reference group