Sleep deprivation and adverse health effects in United States Coast Guard responders to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Objective: Disaster responders are increasingly called upon to assist in various natural and manmade disasters. A critical safety concern for this population is sleep deprivation; however, there are limited published data regarding sleep deprivation and disaster responder safety.

Design: We expanded upon a cross-sectional study of 2695 United States Coast Guard personnel who responded to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Depressive Symptom Severity and Community Collective Efficacy following the 2004 Florida Hurricanes.

There is a lack of research investigating community-level characteristics, such as community collective efficacy, mitigating the impact of disasters on psychological health, specifically depression. We examined the association of community collective efficacy with depressive symptom severity in Florida public health workers (n = 2249) exposed to the 2004 hurricane season using a multilevel approach. Cross-sectional anonymous questionnaires were distributed electronically to all Florida Department of Health (FDOH) personnel that assessed depressive symptom severity and collective efficacy nine months after the 2004 hurricane season.

Disaster-related exposures and health effects among US Coast Guard responders to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: Disaster responders work among poorly characterized physical and psychological hazards with little understood regarding health consequences of their work.

Methods: A survey administered to 2834 US Coast Guard responders to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita provided data on exposures and health effects. Prevalence odds ratios (PORs) evaluated associations between baseline characteristics, missions, exposures, and health effects.

Posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and alcohol and tobacco use in public health workers after the 2004 Florida hurricanes.

Objective: We examined the relationship of probable posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), probable depression, and increased alcohol and/or tobacco use to disaster exposure and work demand in Florida Department of Health workers after the 2004 hurricanes.

Methods: Participants (N = 2249) completed electronic questionnaires assessing PTSD, depression, alcohol and tobacco use, hurricane exposure, and work demand.

Results: Total mental and behavioral health burden (probable PTSD, probable depression, increased alcohol and/or tobacco use) was 11%.

Posttraumatic stress disorder and community collective efficacy following the 2004 Florida hurricanes.

There is a paucity of research investigating the relationship of community-level characteristics such as collective efficacy and posttraumatic stress following disasters. We examine the association of collective efficacy with probable posttraumatic stress disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder symptom severity in Florida public health workers (n = 2249) exposed to the 2004 hurricane season using a multilevel approach. Anonymous questionnaires were distributed electronically to all Florida Department of Health personnel nine months after the 2004 hurricane season.

Mental health service utilization in the U.S. Army.

Objective: U.S. Army personnel experience significant burden from mental disorders, particularly during times of war and with multiple deployments.

Child neglect in Army families: a public health perspective.

Military families include 2.9 million people, with approximately 40% of all service members having at least one child. Rates of child neglect in this population have increased in recent years, but little is known about the characteristics of the neglect.

Monoamine oxidase A regulates antisocial personality in whites with no history of physical abuse.

Objective: Preclinical and human family studies clearly link monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) to aggression and antisocial personality (ASP). The 30-base pair variable number tandem repeat in the MAOA promoter regulates MAOA levels, but its effects on ASP in humans are unclear.

Methods: We evaluated the association of the variable number tandem repeat of the MAOA promoter with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, ASP disorder (ASPD) traits in a community sample of 435 participants from the Hopkins Epidemiology of Personality Disorders Study.

Sleep and arousal as risk factors for adverse health and work performance in public health workers involved in the 2004 Florida hurricane season.

Background: We examined the relation of sleep disturbance and arousal to work performance, mental and physical health, and day-to-day functioning in Florida Department of Health (FDOH) employees 9 months after the 2004 Florida hurricane season.

Methods: FDOH employees were contacted via e-mail 9 months after the 2004 hurricanes. Participants (N = 2249) completed electronic questionnaires including measures of sleep disturbance, arousal, work performance, physical health, mental health, day-to-day function, hurricane injury, and work demand.

Combat-injured service members and their families: the relationship of child distress and spouse-perceived family distress and disruption.

Combat injury in military service members affects both child and family functioning. This preliminary study examined the relationship of child distress postinjury to preinjury deployment-related family distress, injury severity, and family disruption postinjury. Child distress postinjury was assessed by reports from 41 spouses of combat-injured service members who had been hospitalized at two military tertiary care treatment centers.

Epidemiology of burn injuries II: psychiatric and behavioural perspectives.

Modern technological advances have decreased the incidence and severity of burn injuries, and medical care improvements of burn injuries have significantly increased survival rates, particularly in developed countries. Still, fire-related burn injuries are responsible for 300,000 deaths and 10 million disability-adjusted life years lost annually worldwide. The extent to which psychiatric and behavioural factors contribute to the incidence and outcomes of these tragedies has not been systematically documented, and the available data is often insufficient to reach definitive conclusions.

Approach-avoidance coping conflict in a sample of burn patients at risk for posttraumatic stress disorder.

Background: Following an acute burn injury, higher distress is consistently observed among individuals exhibiting a conflict between approach coping (e.g., processing) and avoidance coping (e.

Acute stress disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder: a prospective study of prevalence, course, and predictors in a sample with major burn injuries.

This is one of the largest prospective studies of patients with major burn injuries to use psychometrically sound methods to track and predict posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) across 2 years after burn. The principal objectives were to investigate the utility of self-report measures in detecting acute stress disorder (ASD) and PTSD, and in tracking and predicting PTSD. Participants were adult patients admitted for treatment of a major burn injury.

Symptoms of depression and anxiety as unique predictors of pain-related outcomes following burn injury.

Background: The adverse consequences of burn injuries include pain and psychological distress, which show bidirectional associations. However, much of the existing research has relied on global measures of distress that do not separate distinct symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Purpose: The purpose is to assess the prospective effects of anxiety and depression on pain and functional outcomes following burn injury.

Case identification in psychiatric epidemiology: a review.

Background: Psychiatric epidemiologic surveys since 1980 have relied heavily on a small number of survey diagnostic instruments for case ascertainment, which encode reports of respondents to highly structured interview questions delivered by interviewers without clinical training. Many validations of these survey diagnostic instruments have been carried out.

Objective: This paper reviews the success of the survey diagnostic instruments, for eight diagnostic categories, in validations with a psychiatrist examination as the gold standard.

Psychological distress after major burn injury.

Objective: To track the prevalence and stability of clinically significant psychological distress and to identify potentially modifiable in-hospital symptoms predictive of long-term distress (physical, psychological, and social impairment).

Method: We obtained data from the Burn Model Systems project, a prospective, multisite, cohort study of major burn injury survivors. The Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) was used to assess symptoms in-hospital (n = 1232) and at 6 (n = 790), 12 (n = 645), and 24 (n = 433) months post burn.