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PTSD Affects Veterans’ Physical Health

The Veteran's Health Research conference, "Preparing For the Future of Veterans Health," is the site where new research focusing on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is to be released. The research concluded PTSD can have significant impact on a person's physical and mental health as they grow older.

Researchers highlighted the "devastating biological impact" PTSD can have on a person's entire body. Therefore, the earlier PTSD can be treated the better because aging veterans naturally encounter other health problems. Those health problems can complicate, and be complicated by, PTSD.

The hippocampus is the section of the brain responsible for memory. Broken into different sections, some regions of the hippocampus are more sensitive to stress than others. Unfortunately, the hippocampus is one area of the brain PTSD affects. On average, the hippocampus of people with PTSD is 11% smaller, according to researchers analyzing high-resolution brain scans.

Researchers have made other interesting discoveries about people with PTSD. First, those veterans diagnosed with PTSD develop dementia at a rate twice that of veterans without the diagnosis. Further, their risk of heart disease is three times as high as those without PTSD, and their risk of post-surgical death is higher.

Properly treating PTSD, however, provides veterans a good change of restoring both physical and mental health. Discovering the irregularity in the brain, in a place responsible for neuron growth, could support the suggestion the damage could be reversed.

If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, a South Florida disability attorney from LaVan & Neidenberg is ready to help. To learn if you are entitled to certain programs and benefits contact our veterans disability rights firm today - 1-888-234-5758.