Background: With an increasing number of individuals surviving natural disasters, it is crucial to understand who is most at risk for developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The objective of this study was to prospectively examine the role that pre-existing psychopathology plays in developing PTSD after a disaster.
Methods: This study uses data from a prospective 5-wave longitudinal cohort (years 2003-11) of Chilean adults from 10 health centres ( N = 1708). At baseline, participants completed the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI), a comprehensive psychiatric diagnostic instrument. In 2010, the sixth most powerful earthquake on record struck Chile. One year later, a modified version of the PTSD module of the CIDI was administered. Marginal structural logistic regressions with inverse probability censoring weights were constructed to identify pre-disaster psychiatric predictors of post-disaster PTSD.
Results: The majority of participants were female (75.9%) and had a high-school/college education (66.9%). After controlling for pre-disaster PTSD, pre-existing dysthymia [odds ratio (OR) = 2.21; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.39-3.52], brief psychotic disorder (OR = 2.67; 95% CI = 1.21-5.90), anxiety disorders (not including PTSD; OR = 1.49; 95% CI = 1.27-1.76), panic disorder (OR = 2.46; 95% CI = 1.37-4.42), agoraphobia (OR = 2.23; 95% CI = 1.22-4.10), social phobia (OR = 1.86; 95% CI = 1.06-3.29), specific phobia (OR = 2.07; 95% CI = 1.50-2.86) and hypochondriasis (OR = 2.10; 95% CI = 1.05-4.18) were predictors of post-disaster PTSD. After controlling for pre-disaster anxiety disorders, dysthymia, and non-affective psychotic disorders, individuals with pre-disaster PTSD (vs those without pre-disaster PTSD) had higher odds of developing post-disaster PTSD (OR = 2.53; 95% CI = 1.37-4.65).
Conclusions: This is the first Chilean study to demonstrate prospectively that pre-disaster psychiatric disorders, independent of a prior history of other psychiatric disorders, increase the vulnerability to develop PTSD following a major natural disaster.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5837490 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyw094 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
The prevalence and risk factors for post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety among older survivors post-earthquake: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
J Affect Disord
February 2025
Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore City, Singapore.
Background: The occurrence of PTSD, depression, and anxiety is notably high among older adults following an earthquake. This research aimed to assess the prevalence and determinants of mental health conditions among older survivors after an earthquake.
Methods: The review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA process.
Pre-disaster income inequality and post-disaster mental health: A natural experiment from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.
Health Place
November 2024
Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Article Synopsis
- This study investigated how income inequality in communities affects mental health after disasters, specifically looking at older adults following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.
- The researchers used a cohort of individuals over 65, assessing their mental health through surveys and measuring community income inequality with the Gini index before and after the disaster.
- Results revealed that higher pre-disaster income inequality correlated with increased post-traumatic stress symptoms, suggesting potential links between inequality, mental health, and changes in social capital post-disaster that need further exploration for effective policy recommendations.
Predicting Post-Disaster Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Trajectories: The Role of Pre-Disaster Traumatic Experiences.
Int J Environ Res Public Health
June 2024
Department of Sociology, Harvard University, 540 William James Hall, 33 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA 01238, USA.
The mental health impact of disasters is substantial, with 30-40% of direct disaster victims developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It is not yet clear why some people cope well with disaster-related trauma while others experience chronic dysfunction. Prior research on non-disaster trauma suggests that an individual's history of traumatic experiences earlier in the life course, prior to the disaster, may be a key factor in explaining variability in psychological responses to disasters.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLongitudinal associations between post-traumatic stress and post-traumatic growth among older adults 11 years after a disaster.
Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci
June 2024
Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Aims: Previous studies have reported inconsistent findings regarding the association between post-traumatic stress (PTS) and post-traumatic growth (PTG). Three major issues could account for this inconsistency: (1) the lack of information about mental health problems before the disaster, (2) the concept of PTG is still under scrutiny for potentially being an illusionary perception of personal growth and (3) the overlooking of PTS comorbidities as time-dependent confounding factors. To address these issues, we explored the associations of PTS and PTG with trauma-related diseases and examined the association between PTS and PTG using marginal structural models to address time-dependent confounding, considering pre-disaster covariates, among older survivors of the 2011 Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA longitudinal investigation of mental health outcomes after the Henan floods in China: Examining predictors of resilience trajectories.
Psych J
December 2024
School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China.
A heavy rainstorm struck Henan, China, in July 2021. Previous studies have indicated that natural disasters have a wide range of psychological sequelae, but little research has been done on the psychological effects of floods specifically. This study aimed to track the mental health trajectories of flood victims over time and identify associated protective and risk factors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!