Trauma exposure and stress-related disorders in African-American women with diabetes mellitus.

Objective: The purpose of the study was to assess demographic features, rates of trauma exposure, prevalence of post-traumatic stress and depressive symptoms in a group of urban, low-income, African-American women with type 1 or type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Research Design And Methods: We conducted a survey of (n = 290) low-income, African-American women seeking care in the diabetes clinic of an urban hospital and collected data on the demographic characteristics, childhood and nonchildhood abuse trauma exposure, and the severity of post-traumatic stress and depressive symptoms using the Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Symptom Scale (PSS) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). In a subset of women with type 2 diabetes (n = 96), we assessed haemoglobin A1c to examine the relationship between psychopathology and glycaemic control.

Results: Of the overall sample, 61.7% reported exposure to trauma in their lifetime, and 30.4% and 29.3% had current PTSD and MDD, respectively. Exposure to both childhood and nonchildhood abuse trauma was associated with an increased PTSD and depressive symptom severity ('s < .05). PTSD diagnosis, but not depression, was associated with increased haemoglobin A1c ( = .002).

Conclusions: These data document high levels of trauma exposure, PTSD and depressive symptoms in diabetic African-American women treated in a specialty clinic of an urban hospital setting. Furthermore, these data indicate that the presence of PTSD is negatively associated with glycaemic control.