A multisite study of initial respiration rate and heart rate as predictors of posttraumatic stress disorder

Abstract

Objective: Fear-conditioning models posit that increased arousal at the time of trauma predicts subsequent posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This multisite study evaluated the extent to which acute heart rate and respiration rate predict subsequent chronic PTSD. Method: Traumatically injured patients admitted to 4 hospitals across Australia between April 2004 and February 2006 were initially assessed during hospital admission (N = 1105) and were reassessed 3 months later for PTSD by using the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale-IV and for major depressive disorder (MDD) by using the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (English version 5.0.0) (N = 955). Heart rate, respiration rat..