On April 8, 2013, we published a blog on Restrictive Lung Disease and Agent Orange. An associated issue we encounter is a veteran who has filed a claim for restrictive lung diseases as secondary to their Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Establishing service connection for issues such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) as secondary to PTSD can be difficult and I highly recommend that the veteran obtain a medical nexus statement from their treating physician. That said, the VA’s own National Center for PTSD has documented that “trauma [PTSD] may lead to poor health outcomes.”
In relation to respiratory diseases, there is a growing body of medical and scientific literature that has associated the stress and anxiety related to PTSD with respiratory diseases. Additionally, veterans need to be aware that certain medications used to treat PTSD (particularly benzodiazepines) can depress a patient’s respiratory system and aggravate an otherwise non-service connected respiratory disease. Below, I have provided citations and links to that research. If you have questions regarding your claim for disability compensation before the VA, please do not hesitate to contact us at www.finkrosner.com or via telephone at (732) 382-6070:
Yanxia Lu1, et al., Life event stress and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): associations with mental well-being and quality of life in a population-based study, BMJ Open. Vol. 19;2 (6) (Nov. 2012), at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23166130
Jain, Abhishek, and Lolak, Sermsak, Psychiatric Aspects of Chronic Lung Disease, Current Psychiatric Reports, 11:219 (2009), at http://psychiatry.stanford.edu/Psychosomatic/Jain%20Lolak’09-Psych%20of%20Chronic%20Lung%20Dis.pdf
Goodwin RD, Chuang S, Simuro N, Davies M, Pine DS, Association between lung function and mental health problems among adults in the United States: findings from the First National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Am J Epidemiol,165: 383–388 (2007), at http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/165/4/383.long
Gordon D Rubenfeld, Gordon, and Herridge, Margaret S., Epidemiology and outcomes of acute lung injury, Chest; 131(2):554-62 (03/2007), at http://journal.publications.chestnet.org/article.aspx?articleid=1084965
Brenes, Gretchen A., Anxiety and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Prevalence, Impact, and Treatment, Psychosomatic Medicine, Vol 65: 963-970 (2003), at http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/content/65/6/963.full.pdf+html
Bernardy, Nancy C., The Role of Benzodiazepines in the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), National Center for PTSD, Vol. 21, No. 4 (2013) (overview of benzodiazepine literature for treatment of PTSD), at http://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/newsletters/research-quarterly/v23n4.pdf