Trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in South Africa: analysis from the South African Stress and Health Study

BMC Psychiatry

Research Article

Karestan C Koenen¹  Maria Petukhova²  Ronald C Kessler²  Lukoye Atwoli³  Dan J Stein⁴  Katie A Mclaughlin⁵  David R Williams⁶ 

[1] Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA;Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA;Department of Mental Health, School of Medicine, Moi University College of Health Sciences, Eldoret, Kenya;Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa;Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa;Department of Psychiatry, Division of General Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA;Department of Society, Human Development and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA;

关键词: Posttraumatic stress disorder;    Trauma;    South Africa;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-244X-13-182

 received in 2013-04-11, accepted in 2013-07-01,  发布年份 2013

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundSouth Africa’s unique history, characterised by apartheid, a form of constitutional racial segregation and exploitation, and a long period of political violence and state-sponsored oppression ending only in 1994, suggests a high level of trauma exposure in the general population. The aim of this study was to document the epidemiology of trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the South African general population.MethodsThe South African Stress and Health Study is a nationally representative survey of South African adults using the WHO’s Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) to assess exposure to trauma and presence of DSM-IV mental disorders.ResultsThe most common traumatic events were the unexpected death of a loved one and witnessing trauma occurring to others. Lifetime and 12-month prevalence rates of PTSD were 2.3% and 0.7% respectively, while the conditional prevalence of PTSD after trauma exposure was 3.5%. PTSD conditional risk after trauma exposure and probability of chronicity after PTSD onset were both highest for witnessing trauma. Socio-demographic factors such as sex, age and education were largely unrelated to PTSD risk.ConclusionsThe occurrence of trauma and PTSD in South Africa is not distributed according to the socio-demographic factors or trauma types observed in other countries. The dominant role of witnessing in contributing to PTSD may reflect the public settings of trauma exposure in South Africa and highlight the importance of political and social context in shaping the epidemiology of PTSD.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Atwoli et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2013