NCJ Number
227533
Journal
Trauma, Violence, & Abuse Volume: 10 Issue: 3 Dated: July 2009 Pages: 198-210
Date Published
July 2009
Length
13 pages
Annotation
After a literature review of the epidemiological findings on trauma, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other posttrauma disorders, this article illustrates the pattern of the epidemiological findings with data from the 1996 Detroit Area Survey of Trauma.
Abstract
Epidemiological studies have reported that the majority of community residents in the United States have experienced traumatic events with a severity that carries the potential for developing posttraumatic stress disorder as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV); however, less than 10 percent of trauma victims develop PTSD. PTSD is defined by three symptom groups: re-experiencing the traumatic event, avoidance of stimuli that resemble the event and the numbing of emotional responsiveness, and increased arousal. These disturbances must not have been present before the trauma occurred and must be connected with a distinct traumatic event. The increased incidence of other disorders following trauma exposure occurs primarily among trauma victims with PTSD. Female victims of traumatic events are at higher risk for PTSD than male victims. Research has yet to produce direct evidence on the causes of the sex difference in the conditional risk for PTSD. The Detroit Area Survey of Trauma found that the overall lifetime prevalence of exposure to any traumatic event was 89.6 percent. Prevalence of exposure to trauma was higher in men than in women (92.2 percent compared to 87.1 percent). The conditional risk of PTSD associated with any trauma was 13 percent for females and 6.2 percent for males. The overall sex difference was due primarily to females' greater risk of PTSD following exposure to assaultive violence; specifically, the conditional risk of PTSD associated with assaultive violence was 35.7 percent for females compared with 6 percent for males. The sex differences in the three other categories of traumatic events were not significant. 4 tables, 2 figures, and 43 references