Title | Effect of Symptom Over-Reporting on Heart Rate Variability in Veterans With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. | ||
Author | Brady, Robert E; Constans, Joseph I; Marx, Brian P; Spira, James L; Gevirtz, Richard; Kimbrell, Timothy A; Kramer, Teresa L; Pyne, Jeffrey M | ||
Journal | J Trauma Dissociation | Publication Year/Month | 2015 |
PMID | 26011249 | PMCID | -N/A- |
Affiliation + expend | 1.a Health Services Research & Development , Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System , North Little Rock , Arkansas , USA. |
Physiological assessment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) presents an additional avenue for evaluating the severity of PTSD symptoms. We investigated whether the presence of a high number of uncommon symptoms attenuated the relation between self-reported PTSD symptoms and heart rate variability (HRV). Participants were 115 veterans from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom with or without PTSD. Symptom over-report was assessed using the Miller Forensic Assessment of Symptoms Test (M-FAST). Participants completed the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale and M-FAST and underwent physiological assessment to determine HRV. These data were then entered into a hierarchical linear regression equation to test the moderating effect of over-reporting on the relation between PTSD symptom severity and HRV. The result of this analysis failed to demonstrate a significant moderating effect of over-reporting on the PTSD and HRV relation. HRV was a significant predictor of PTSD symptom severity, and this relation did not differ across levels of over-reporting. These findings did not support the hypothesis that over-reporting would attenuate the relation between PTSD and HRV. Clinical and research implications and directions for future investigation are discussed.