PTSD after severe vehicular crashes.

Purpose: To describe predictors of PTSD after motor vehicle crashes (MVC).

Methods: MVC patients were interviewed during their hospitalization and at 6 and 12 months post-injury. Interviews included information about behavioral factors, circumstances around the crash, recovery and PTSD screening.

Sociodemographic characteristics associated with substance use status in a trauma inpatient population.

Substance use is significantly associated with physical injury, yet relatively little is known about the prevalence of specific substance use disorders among trauma patients, or their associated sociodemographic characteristics. We evaluated these issues in an unselected sample of 1,118 adult inpatients at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, Baltimore, MD, who were interviewed with the psychoactive substance use disorder section of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R. Among trauma inpatients, lifetime alcohol users (71.

Risk of psychoactive substance dependence among substance users in a trauma inpatient population.

One measure of a substance's addictive risk is the proportion of users who become dependent. This study evaluates the lifetime and current risk of substance dependence among lifetime substance users' among trauma inpatients and provides a relative ranking of addictive risk among the substances. Data on use of 8 substance groups (alcohol, opiates, marijuana, cocaine, other stimulants, sedative-hypnotics, hallucinogens, other drugs) were obtained by interview (Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-III-R) from 1,118 adult trauma inpatients.

Population-based study of police-reported sexual assault in Baltimore, Maryland.

Objective: To document the population-based incidence of sexual assault in Baltimore, Md, victims' alcohol/drug use, and pre-event circumstances.

Methods: Between 1997 and 1999, the city's sexual assault treatment center treated 1,038 victims (age>or=13 years). Data were extracted from forensic narratives.

Life-altering outcomes after lower extremity injury sustained in motor vehicle crashes.

Background: Lower extremity injuries (LEIs) sustained in vehicular crashes result in physical problems and unexpected psychosocial consequences. Their significance is diminished by low Abbreviated Injury Scale scores.

Methods: Drivers who sustained LEIs were identified as part of the Crash Injury Research and Engineering Network (CIREN) and interviewed during hospitalization, at 6 months, and at 1 year.

Psychosocial and physical factors associated with lower extremity injury.

With the increasing availability of modern occupant restraints, more drivers and passengers are surviving high-energy crashes. However, a large number, especially those involved in frontal and offset frontal crashes, incur disabling lower extremity injuries. In the past, not much attention was paid to these injuries, as they were usually not life threatening.