Prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder in students 23 months after tsunami

Ketumarn, Panom; Sitdhiraksa, Nantawat; Pithayaratsathien, Natthorn; Piyasilpa, Vinadda; Plubrukan, Rattanothai; Dumrongphol, Hattaya; Rungsri, Sarinee; Satthapisit, Sirina; Pornnoppadol, Chanvit; Phattharayuttawat, Sucheera

doi:10.1016/j.ajp.2009.10.005

« Previous Next »Asian Journal of Psychiatry
Volume 2, Issue 4 , Pages 144-148, December 2009

Prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder in students 23 months after tsunami

Panom Ketumarn
- Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +66 24197422/24221785; fax: +66 24113430/819307893.
Nantawat Sitdhiraksa
- Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
Natthorn Pithayaratsathien
- Chulalongkorn Hospital, Thai Red Cross, Bangkok, Thailand
Vinadda Piyasilpa
- Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health, Bangkok, Thailand
Rattanothai Plubrukan
- Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health, Bangkok, Thailand
Hattaya Dumrongphol
- National Institute for Child and Family Development, Mahidol University, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand
Sarinee Rungsri
- Khon Kaen Hospital, Khon Kaen, Thailand
Sirina Satthapisit
- Phranakhonsriayutthaya Hospital, Phranakhonsriayutthaya, Thailand
Chanvit Pornnoppadol
- Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
Sucheera Phattharayuttawat
- Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand

published online 16 August 2011.

Abstract

Objective

To study the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the 4th–9th grade students in an affected school 23 months after tsunami.

Method

Two-stage screening procedure was used in a diagnostic study designed to identify post-traumatic stress disorder in the 4th–9th grade students in a school in Takaupa district, Phang Nga province, 23 months after the 2004 tsunami. Impact of Events Scale (IES) was used as a screening questionnaire in the first stage. In the second stage, the students were assessed by a psychiatrist to identify PTSD according to DSM-IV criteria. SPSS 10.0, inferential statistics and Chi-square test were used to analyze the data.

Result

A total of 436 students participated in the study. Forty of them were diagnosed with PTSD. The prevalence of PTSD was 15.1%. The sensitivity, specificity and negative predictive value of IES were 0.75, 0.54 and 0.92 respectively.