risk factors
Last reviewed 01/2018
The following groups of people are at an increased risk of developing PTSD:
- victims of violent crime e.g. physical and sexual assaults/abuse, bombings, riots
- people engaged in the armed forces, police, journalists and prison service, fire service, ambulance and emergency personnel, including those no longer in service
- victims of war, torture, state-sanctioned violence or terrorism, and refugees
- survivors of accidents and disasters
- women following traumatic childbirth,
- individuals diagnosed with a life-threatening illness (1)
Factors associated with post-traumatic stress disorder include:
- pretraumatic factors
- previous psychiatric disorder
- sex (more prevalent in female patients than in male patients)
- personality (external locus of control greater than internal locus of control)
- lower socioeconomic status
- lack of education
- race (minority status)
- previous trauma
- family history of psychiatric disorders
- peritraumatic factors
- severity of trauma
- perceived threat to life
- peritraumatic emotions
- peritraumatic dissociation
- post-traumatic factors
- absence of social support
- subsequent life stress (2)
Factors occurring during or after the trauma are associated with stronger effects than pretraumatic factors (3).
Reference:
- (1) National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) 2005. Post – traumatic stress disorder. The management of PTSD in adults and in children in primary and secondary care
- (2) Bisson JI. Post-traumatic stress disorder. BMJ. 2007;334(7597):789-93
- (3) Brewin CR, Andrews B, Valentine JD. Meta-analysis of risk factors for posttraumatic stress disorder in trauma-exposed adults. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2000;68(5):748-66