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. 2014 Dec:59:77-84.
doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2014.09.006. Epub 2014 Sep 21.

Frequency of trauma exposure and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Italy: analysis from the World Mental Health Survey Initiative

Claudia Carmassi  1 , Liliana Dell'Osso  2 , Corrado Manni  3 , Valentina Candini  4 , Jessica Dagani  5 , Laura Iozzino  6 , Karestan C Koenen  7 , Giovanni de Girolamo  8
Affiliations

Frequency of trauma exposure and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Italy: analysis from the World Mental Health Survey Initiative

Claudia Carmassi et al. J Psychiatr Res. 2014 Dec.

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Epidemiology; Exposure; PTSD; Trauma.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
TRAUMATIC EVENTS BY CATEGORY AS PERCENTAGE OF ALL TRAUMATIC EVENTS
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