Abstract
BackgroundPost-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common psychological disorder caused by unusual threats or catastrophic events. Little is known about the combined incidence of PTSD after earthquakes. This study aimed at evaluating the combined incidence of PTSD among survivors after earthquakes using systematic review and meta-analysis.MethodsThe electronic databases of PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and PsycARTICLES were searched for relevant articles in this study. Loney criteria were used to assess the quality of eligible articles. The combined incidence of PTSD was estimated by using the Freeman-Tukey double arcsine transformation method. Subgroup analyses were conducted using the following variables: the time of PTSD assessment, gender, educational level, marital status, damage to one’s house, bereavement, injury of body and witnessing death.ResultsForty-six eligible articles containing 76,101 earthquake survivors met the inclusion criteria, of which 17,706 were diagnosed as having PTSD. Using a random effects model, the combined incidence of PTSD after earthquakes was 23.66 %. Moreover, the combined incidence of PTSD among survivors who were diagnosed at not more than 9 months after earthquake was 28.76 %, while for survivors who were diagnosed at over nine months after earthquake the combined incidence was 19.48 %. A high degree of heterogeneity (I2 = 99.5 %, p<0.001) was observed in the results, with incidence ranging from 1.20 to 82.64 %. The subgroup analyses showed that the incidence of PTSD after earthquake varied significantly across studies in relation to the time of PTSD assessment, gender, educational level, damage to one’s house, bereavement, injury of body and witnessing death. However, stratified analyses could not entirely explain the heterogeneity in the results.ConclusionsGiven the high heterogeneity observed in this study, future studies should aim at exploring more possible risk factors for PTSD after earthquakes, especially genetic factors. In spite of that, the results of this study suggest that nearly 1 in 4 earthquake survivors are diagnosed as having PTSD. Therefore, the local government should plan effective psychological interventions for earthquake survivors.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12888-016-0891-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common psychological disorder caused by unusual threats or catastrophic events
Further examination of the 99 full papers resulted in 14 articles excluded for not reporting the incidence of PTSD; 20 articles excluded for identifying PTSD neither by established psychiatric interviews according to the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-IV) criteria nor by the selfreporting questionnaires that based on DSM-IV; 6 articles excluded for including interventions; 2 articles excluded for not measuring earthquake-induced PTSD at least 1 month post-earthquake and 11 articles excluded for repeated data with same follow-up periods
The results indicated that studies with longer follow-up periods (>9 months) showed lower incidence of PTSD than did studies with shorter follow-up periods (≤9 months; combined incidence = 28.76 %, 95 % 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 22.28-35.71 %)
Summary
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common psychological disorder caused by unusual threats or catastrophic events. This study aimed at evaluating the combined incidence of PTSD among survivors after earthquakes using systematic review and meta-analysis. Earthquakes are one of the most destructive and frequently occurring natural disasters [1]. Earthquakes have caused a lot of deaths and injuries throughout the human history, leaving survivors with endless panic and some mental problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) [3]. PTSD is a psychological disorder caused by unusual threats or catastrophic events. It has been regarded as the most prevalent type of psychiatric disorder after disasters [4], including earthquake, tsunami, flood, etc. An enormous disparity does exist in the reported incidence of PTSD symptoms
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
