PTSD Prevalence Still High for Persons Living Near World Trade Center Attacks

Abstract

THE CONTINUING EFFECTS OF THE terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, are providing researchers new insights into the course of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The latest discovery comes from investigators associated with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, who found that Manhattan residents living near the World Trade Center towers are vulnerable to PTSD years after the buildings collapsed. Their findings were released on June 13 (DiGrande L et al. J Trauma Stress. 2008;21[3]:264-273). In a survey of 11 037 residents living south of Canal Street in the lower part of Manhattan at the time of the attacks, the researchers found that even 2 or 3 years after the event, the prevalence of probable PTSD was 12.6%— about 3 or 4 times the rate seen in the general population. The findings add to earlier research showing that PTSD rates spiked nationally and in New York City as a whole during the first few months following the attacks but rapidly fell depending on how far one lived from the disaster. One study found that 11.2% of residents in the New York City metropolitan area had probable PTSD during the month following September 11, but only 0.6% reported having PTSD 6 months later (Galea S et al. Am J Epidemiol. 2003;158[6]:514-524). Another study found 7.5% of New York City metropolitan area residents had probable PTSD 1 to 2 months after the event compared with 4% in the rest of the country (Schlenger WE et al. JAMA. 2002;288[5]:581-588). LauraDiGrande,DrPH,MPH,leadauthorofthemostrecentstudy,saidshewas not surprised toseehigher ratesofPTSD among people living near the towers. “They had the highest level of exposure to 9/11—they were more likely to be injured, or be caught in the dust cloud, or tohavewitnessedthehorrorsof theday,” said DiGrande, who is also research director for injury epidemiology with the New York Health Department. Subset analysis revealed higher prevalence rates of PTSD among women