Post-traumatic stress disorder among people exposed to the Ventotene street disaster in Rome

OBJECTIVE To test five hypotheses on Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): 1) Is PTSD the most prevalent disorder after trauma? 2) Is the proximity to the disaster related to the risk of PTSD? 3) Is PTSD associated with child mourning or separation, previous stress, or familiarity for psychiatric disorders? 4) Does the exposition to trauma increase substance abuse or somatization? 5) Can episodic trauma cause long-lasting psychiatric morbidity? METHODS Clinical assessment of subjects exposed to an explosion in a building caused by a gas-leak. Best estimate clinical diagnoses were made according to DSM-IV-TR criteria. The Zung Depression Rating Scale, the Zung Anxiety Rating Scale, and the Clinician Administered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Scale were used in the clinical assessment. Statistical analysis was performed by means of t-test with Bonferroni's correction on continuous variables and chi2 or Fisher test on categorical variables. RESULTS PTSD was the most prevalent disorder after trauma, diagnosed in 32 (36.8%) subjects. The subjects who had not seen dead or injured people were more likely to receive no psychiatric diagnosis. Civil status, parenthood, death of relatives in the disaster, personal injuries, history of child mourning or separation, of previous stress, as well as familiarity for any psychiatric disorder or substance use disorder were not related with the rate of ascertained psychiatric diagnoses. Nearly two years after trauma, most of patients who had suffered PTSD still met PTSD criteria. CONCLUSION The 1st and the 5th hypotheses were corroborated, the 3rd and the 4th hypotheses were not confirmed. The 2nd hypothesis was partially confirmed.