Historical and regional particularities in the prevalence of traumatic events and posttraumatic stress disorder in East and West Germany

BMC Public Health

Research

Christine Ulke¹  Andreas Maercker²  Christoph Kasinger³  Ann-Christin Schulz³  Manfred Beutel³  Elmar Brähler³ 

[1] Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig Medical Center, Leipzig, Germany;Department of Psychology, Division Psychopathology and Clinical Intervention, University of Zurich, Zuerich, Switzerland;Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Heidestraße 146, 60385, Frankfurt am Main, Germany;

关键词: Trauma;    PTSD;    Traumatic events;    East/West Germany;    Prevalence;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-023-16534-6

 received in 2023-04-21, accepted in 2023-08-16,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundEpidemiological research on the prevalence of traumatic events and PTSD has shown that there are significant differences between countries, due to their different history and socialization processes. In the case of Germany, this is particularly relevant. Germany was divided into two states from 1949 to 1990. This study examines the prevalence of traumatic events and PTSD in the formerly divided East and West Germany.MethodsFor the prevalence of traumatic events, we used data from four representative surveys (years 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2016) with a total of N = 9,200 respondents. For the analyses of PTSD prevalence, we used data from three representative surveys (years 2005, 2007, 2008) with a total of N = 6676 respondents. We compared different birth cohorts, persons living in the former West vs. East Germany, and the application of different diagnostic criteria using a chi-square test.ResultsThe overall one-month prevalence rate for PTSD was 3.4% (3.0% for men and 3.8% for women). We found significant differences in the occurrence of traumatic events between genders, different age cohorts as well as between people who live in East and West Germany. Significant differences in the prevalence of PTSD can only be observed for different age cohorts. Most of the age effects are due to traumatic events related to World War II (WWII). Prevalence rates for PTSD were higher when the diagnostic criterions of the DSM-V were applied compared to the criterions of the DSM-IV.ConclusionsOur data suggests that socio-political factors may need to be considered when accounting for differences in occurrence rates of traumatic events, but not for prevalence rates of PTSD, between East and West Germany. People who have experienced WW II have a higher risk of suffering from PTSD. Future epidemiological trauma research should take historical and regional peculiarities of countries into account.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2023