Experiences of traumatic events and associations with PTSD and depression development in urban health care-seeking women

Abstract

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that occurs after a traumatic event and has been linked to psychiatric and physical health declines. Rates of PTSD are far higher in individuals with low incomes and who reside in urban areas compared to the general population. In this study, 250 urban health care-seeking women were interviewed for a diagnosis of PTSD, major depressive disorder, and also the experience of traumatic events. Multivariate logistic regressions were used to determine the associations between traumatic events and PTSD development. Survival analysis was used to determine if PTSD developed from assaultive and nonassaultive events differed in symptom duration. Eighty-six percent of women reported at least one traumatic event, 14.8% of women were diagnosed with current PTSD, and 19.6% with past PTSD. More than half of women with PTSD had comorbid depression. Assaultive traumatic events were most predictive of PTSD development. More than two thirds of the women who developed PTSD developed chronic PTSD. Women who developed PTSD from assaultive events experienced PTSD for at least twice the duration of women who developed PTSD from nonassaultive events. In conclusion, PTSD was very prevalent in urban health care-seeking women. Assaultive violence was most predictive of PTSD development and also nonremittance. © 2008 The New York Academy of Medicine.