Post-traumatic stress disorder, coping strategies and type 2 diabetes: psychometric assessment after L'Aquila earthquake.

Abstract

After natural and collective catastrophes, many behavioral phenomena can occur through psychobiological responses that involve also the diabetic condition.The aim of this study was to investigate post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and coping strategies in type 2 diabetic patients after L'Aquila earthquake, with a particular attention to the newly diagnosed patients and to the gender differences. Among the local diabetic population, we recruited 100 diabetic patients (46 women and 54 men). Sixty of these had diabetes before the earthquake (pre-quake patients), and other 40 received diabetes diagnosis after the earthquake (post-quake patients). A psychometric protocol composed by Davidson Trauma Scale for PTSD and Brief-COPE for coping strategies was administered. We found significant differences in the levels of PTSD when comparing both post-quake with pre-quake patients (post-quake=51.72±26.05 vs. pre-quake=31.65±22.59; p<0.05) and the female patients with males (women=53.50±27.01 vs. men=31.65±23.06; p<0.05) and also in the prevalence [post-quake=27/40 (67.5%) vs. pre-quake=20/60 (33.3%); p<0.05], [women=27/46 (58.69%) vs. men=16/54 (29.62%); p<0.05]. Moreover, maladaptive coping was a predictive factor for PTSD in the post-quake group only (OR 1.682; 95% CI 1.155-2.450; p=0.006). Our results revealed that PTSD may be considered an important comorbidity factor in newly diagnosed patients and in diabetic women. Hence, a psychological support seems particularly important in these patients after a collective traumatic event to help them react to both PTSD and diabetes and to help them improve their coping skills.