TY - JOUR
T1 - Frequency of trauma exposure and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Italy
T2 - Analysis from the World Mental Health Survey Initiative
AU - Carmassi, Claudia
AU - Dell'Osso, Liliana
AU - Manni, Corrado
AU - Candini, Valentina
AU - Dagani, Jessica
AU - Iozzino, Laura
AU - Koenen, Karestan C.
AU - de Girolamo, Giovanni
PY - 2014/12/1
Y1 - 2014/12/1
N2 - Epidemiological studies have examined the relative importance of Traumatic Events (TEs) in accounting for the societal burden of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, most studies used the worst trauma experienced, which can lead to an overestimation of the conditional risk of PTSD. Although a number of epidemiological surveys on PTSD have been carried out in the United States, only a few studies in limited sample have been conducted in Italy. This study, carried out in the framework of the World Mental Health Survey Initiative, is a cross-sectional household survey of a representative sample of the Italian adult population. Lifetime prevalence of TEs and 12-month prevalence of PTSD were evaluated using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI). Reports of PTSD associated with randomly selected TEs were weighted by the individual-level probabilities of TE selection to generate estimates of population-level PTSD risk associated with each TE. Network events was the most commonly reported class of TEs (29.4%). War events had the highest conditional risk of PTSD (12.2%). The TEs that contributed most to societal PTSD burden were unexpected death of a loved one (24.1%) and having seen atrocities (18.2%). Being female was related to high risk of PTSD after experiencing a TE. Exposure to network events is commonly reported among Italian adults, but two TEs are responsible for the highest burden associated with PTSD: the unexpected death of someone close and sexual assault. These results can help designing public health interventions to reduce the societal PTSD burden.
AB - Epidemiological studies have examined the relative importance of Traumatic Events (TEs) in accounting for the societal burden of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, most studies used the worst trauma experienced, which can lead to an overestimation of the conditional risk of PTSD. Although a number of epidemiological surveys on PTSD have been carried out in the United States, only a few studies in limited sample have been conducted in Italy. This study, carried out in the framework of the World Mental Health Survey Initiative, is a cross-sectional household survey of a representative sample of the Italian adult population. Lifetime prevalence of TEs and 12-month prevalence of PTSD were evaluated using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI). Reports of PTSD associated with randomly selected TEs were weighted by the individual-level probabilities of TE selection to generate estimates of population-level PTSD risk associated with each TE. Network events was the most commonly reported class of TEs (29.4%). War events had the highest conditional risk of PTSD (12.2%). The TEs that contributed most to societal PTSD burden were unexpected death of a loved one (24.1%) and having seen atrocities (18.2%). Being female was related to high risk of PTSD after experiencing a TE. Exposure to network events is commonly reported among Italian adults, but two TEs are responsible for the highest burden associated with PTSD: the unexpected death of someone close and sexual assault. These results can help designing public health interventions to reduce the societal PTSD burden.
KW - Epidemiology
KW - Exposure
KW - PTSD
KW - Trauma
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84908367444&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2014.09.006
DO - 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2014.09.006
M3 - Article
C2 - 25266475
AN - SCOPUS:84908367444
VL - 59
SP - 77
EP - 84
JO - Journal of Psychiatric Research
JF - Journal of Psychiatric Research
SN - 0022-3956
ER -