Chronic Medical Conditions as Predictors of the Likelihood of PTSD among Black Adults: Preparing for the Aftermath of COVID-19.

Abstract

The relationship between chronic medical conditions and PTSD within-race in Black adults is not well understood and there exists a dearth of empirical research investigating the gender differences. Cross-sectional data from the National Survey of American Life were used to examine the relationship between PTSD and obesity, hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and asthma (five of the most commonly identified COVID-19 underlying medical conditions) among Black adults in the United States. Results from modified Poisson regression analyses revealed that Black adults across all three groups (overall, male, and female samples) who reported two or more chronic medical conditions had a higher prevalence of PTSD than those who reported zero or one. Black men with obesity, diabetes, or heart disease and Black women with asthma had a higher prevalence of PTSD than those who did not report obesity, diabetes, heart disease, or asthma. Findings from this study underscore the need to alert social workers to the potential relationship between obesity, diabetes, or heart disease and PTSD for Black men and asthma and PTSD for Black women to help develop culturally appropriate biopsychosocial-spiritual assessments, with a measured focus on Black men based on their comparatively worse health status.