Influence of post-traumatic status on health-related quality of life among survivors 10 years after the Wenchuan earthquake in China

Abstract

Background: China is a country with frequent earthquakes. Beichuan was the epicenter of what was later called the Wenchuan earthquake, which caused nearly 80% of the houses in the area to collapse, with 8,605 people killed and 9,693 people missing. The aim of our study was to explore the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and its influence on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among the survivors 10 years after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China.

Methods: A total of 610 survivors from Leigu town in Beichuan County were investigated by a systematic sampling method. Post-traumatic status, HRQOL, and demographic sources were measured by the PTSD Checklist Civilian Version (PCL-C), 36-item Health Survey Short Form (SF-36), and self-questionnaire, respectively.

Results: Ten years after the Wenchuan earthquake, the prevalence of PTSD for survivors was 1.6%. There were significant negative correlations between survivors' SF-36 scores and the scores of PCL-C. Higher scores in post-traumatic status were associated with a higher rate of poor physical HRQOL, which was lower than the mean score [adjusted odds ratio (OR) 1/4 0.96 per SD increase, P 1/4 0.001] and mental HRQOL (adjusted OR 1/4 0.93 per SD increase, P 1/4 0.001). The independent contribution of post-traumatic status to the risk for poor physical and mental HRQOL was 4.9% and 18.7% respectively.

Conclusions: As time has elapsed, the incidence of PTSD has gradually declined after the Wenchuan earthquake. Post-traumatic status was found to influence the health related quality of life of survivors.

Keywords: Post-traumatic status; Wenchuan earthquake; health-related quality of life (HRQOL); survivors.