Related Health Risks Research Articles

Structural Drivers of Vulnerability at the Human-Rodent Interface in the Limpopo National Park, Mozambique

Abstract This socio-anthropological study investigates the relations between humans and rodents in an area adjacent to the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique. Designed as part of the larger researcher on mammarenaviruses, it explores the social dimensions of the rodent-human interface, considering its spatial and temporal variability. Its results contribute to our understanding of the socio-ecological context in which new pathogens or new routes of pathogen transmission could arise and potentially spread diseases. A vulnerability-based approach was used to assess human exposure, sensibility and capacity to adapt to rodents. This study revealed: (i) Local knowledge of the dynamic of rodent populations over the last few decades, with new invasive rodents displacing native species; (ii) the social-ecological factors thought to be behind this invasion: climate change, new infrastructure (e.g., construction of a dam), new agricultural practices (e.g., cultivation of sunflowers) and policies (human resettlement); (iii) the significant impact associated with new invasive rodents (e.g., crop losses, damage to belongings), the limited capacity for individual and collective interventions to mitigate damage, and the little concern shown for rodent-related diseases; (iv) women and girls’ high vulnerability to potential rodent-borne diseases due to frequent direct and indirect contact with rodents in the domestic space; and (v) the added-value of using a vulnerability-based methodology, over the more commonly used Knowledge-Attitudes-Practices (KAP) methodology, to map the structural factors shaping the human-rodent interface and its dynamic. Our findings suggest that the vulnerability-based approach could offer an opportunity to better respond to the One Health ambition by integrating social dimensions of health and grasping the complexity of the social and material context in which new pathogens could emerge and spread. One Health Statement The present socio-anthropological study of the human-rodent interface comes in complement to a previous eco-epidemiological survey focusing on the rodent-virus interface. It explores the cultural and social dimensions of the interactions between rodent-human, considering spatial and temporal variability. In doing so, it contributes to the understanding of the socio-ecological dynamic, in which new viral transmission can occur and disease spread. It exemplifies, based on local knowledge, how socio-ecological changes can create new routes for the emerging virus and highlights the vulnerability of the exposed human population to address the potential related health risks. This multidisciplinary and dynamic approach of how humans and rodents interact, and how these interactions are shaped by their changing environment is a contribution to a systemic approach to health, in line with the One health paradigm.

Radon Concentration Potential and Radiological Health Risks in Benue South Groundwater Sources

The attendant health consequences arising from both the consumption of thawed radon and the inhalation of released radon air and its progenies emanating from the various drinking water sources in our community underscores the relevance of the current research. This pioneering study attempts to evaluate the Rn-222 concentration, the annual committed effective dose (ACED) and the related health risk factors of randomly selected 26 water samples from Apa and Agatu Local Government Areas (LGAs), Benue South, Nigeria. The results of the analysis via liquid scintillation counter, revealed the highest radon values of 13.3651.065 Bq/l and 18.2481.740 Bq/l for well water samples higher than the action level of 11.1 Bq/l by USEPA were found in the villages of Apa and Agatu LGAs respectively, while 5.5510.479 Bq/l lower than the tolerance limit was recorded for the surface water samples. The annual committed effective doses estimated for the different ICRP age groups (3 months, 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, 15 years and above 17 years) were below the acceptable 1 mSv/y baseline but displayed a significant and consistent rise with the age and water consumption frequency of the populace. Excess life cancer risks (ELCR) and the induced lung cancer cases per year per million persons (LCC) for ingestion and inhalation of radon by the inhabitants of the study areas were calculated. ELCRing and ELCRinh mean values of the radionuclide showed different variations below the standard reference line. The average values recorded for the lung cancer cases due to ingestion and inhalation of radon (LCCing) and (LCCinh) and the probability of an individual developing cancer over a lifetime exposure to radioactive element (ELCR) were found to be significantly lower than the suggested 170 – 230 per year per million persons and 0.29 mSv/y global mean value respectively. This implies that the evaluated radon parameters for ingestion and inhalation in the study areas do not pose any immediate radiological health effects to members of the public but periodic monitoring of the quality of the groundwater sources should be encouraged.

Estimation of Uranium and Related Health Risks Due to Consumption of Groundwater in Lower Himalayas

Estimation of Uranium and Related Health Risks Due to Consumption of Groundwater in Lower Himalayas

EFFECTS OF AIR POLUTION ON HEALTH: A STUDY OF NIGERIA ENVIRONMENT

The quality of air individual inhale can affect their well-being as air pollution is detrimental to health and causing respiratory challenges. Air pollution is no doubt an issue of significant public interest in many developing countries and the international community at large. Therefore, air pollution health related risks are major concern in Nigeria and with various environmental challenges ranging from water pollution, air pollution, oil spillage, deforestation, desertification, erosion and flooding (resulted from bad or no drainage systems) caused mostly by human activities. Air pollution is a wide-reaching problem and it influence human population a great deal. Respiratory infection associated with air pollution is also on the increase and other predominant cause of death associated with air pollution include chronic respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, enteric infections, diarrheal diseases, communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional disease and has caused about 900 thousand deaths and 32 million people living with health related disability per annum in Nigeria. Healthy environmental sustainability is critical to improving the quality and life expectancy. Therefore, sustainable development policies and practices is essential to the policymakers to enhance a healthy life. This paper presents a review of the air pollution challenges in Nigeria and proffer some recommendation to forestall continuous air pollution health related problem. Study shows that air pollutions are not only affecting the human by time but also affecting animals and plants.

Identification of physical activity and sedentary behaviour dimensions that predict mortality risk in older adults: Development of a machine learning model in the Whitehall II accelerometer sub-study and external validation in the CoLaus study.

Identification of new physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour (SB) features relevant for health at older age is important to diversify PA targets in guidelines, as older adults rarely adhere to current recommendations focusing on total duration. We aimed to identify accelerometer-derived dimensions of movement behaviours that predict mortality risk in older populations. We used data on 21 accelerometer-derived features of daily movement behaviours in 3991 participants of the UK-based Whitehall II accelerometer sub-study (25.8% women, 60-83 years, follow-up: 2012-2013 to 2021, mean=8.3 years). A machine-learning procedure was used to identify core PA and SB features predicting mortality risk and derive a composite score. We estimated the added predictive value of the score compared to traditional sociodemographic, behavioural, and health-related risk factors. External validation in the Switzerland-based CoLaus study (N=1329, 56.7% women, 60-86 years, follow-up: 2014-2017 to 2021, mean=3.8 years) was conducted. In total, 11 features related to overall activity level, intensity distribution, bouts duration, frequency, and total duration of PA and SB, were identified as predictors of mortality in older adults and included in a composite score. Both in the derivation and validation cohorts, the score was associated with mortality (hazard ratio=1.10 (95% confidence interval=1.05-1.15) and 1.18 (1.10-1.26), respectively) and improved the predictive value of a model including traditional risk factors (increase in C-index=0.007 (0.002-0.014) and 0.029 (0.002-0.055), respectively). The identified accelerometer-derived PA and SB features, beyond the currently recommended total duration, might be useful for screening of older adults at higher mortality risk and for diversifying PA and SB targets in older populations whose adherence to current guidelines is low. National Institute on Aging; UK Medical Research Council; British Heart Foundation; Wellcome Trust; French National Research Agency; GlaxoSmithKline; Lausanne Faculty of Biology and Medicine; Swiss National Science Foundation.

Perspectives on brain health and dementia prevention in Latin America: challenges and opportunities.

While age-specific dementia prevalence is falling in many countries, several recent reviews estimate prevalence in Latin America to be higher than anywhere else in the world. This may be, in part, due to the high incidence of socioeconomic and health-related risk factors present in the region. However, growing evidence suggests that primary and secondary prevention via modifiable risk factors is possible, and that 40% of cases may be mitigated through interventions which target modifiable risk. This suggests that there may be significant scope for dementia risk reduction in this region. In June 2021, eight fellows from the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) hosted an expert consensus workshop on challenges and opportunities for brain health and dementia prevention in Latin America. The workshop brought together 16 experts in dementia, aging, and brain health from a range of professional backgrounds and geographical regions. From this workshop we collated an expert-led consensus regarding the practical challenges and opportunities implicit in embedding brain health and dementia prevention initiatives in the Latin American context. Here we discuss the outcomes of this workshop, highlighting several challenges and opportunities and discussing how these may be addressed.

관광위험요인 연구와 대응전략에 관한 종합적 이해 : 메타분석과 내용분석 활용 중심으로

This study aims to understand the tourism risk factors that have a huge impact on the tourism industry from various angles so that we can prepare the resilience and response strategy. This study first conducted a meta-analysis on academic articles covering risk factors in tourism with the CiteSpace software. Then, this study collected YouTube content on tourism risk factor and conducted content analysis, in order to find out which tourism risk factors are delivered to the public and which tourism risk factors tourists are interested in. The results obtained through various methods suggested that it was necessary to clearly understand and indicate the disadvantages of data mining research. An analysis of YouTube content showed that individuals and the media channels generate and share tourism information on tourism risks and safety more actively than tourism organizations. Health-related risks in tourist destinations appear to have been one of the most frequently mentioned types of risks on YouTube even before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Physicochemical Properties, Total Concentration, Geochemical Fractions, and Health Risks of Trace Metals in Oil-Bearing Soils of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

The physicochemical properties, total metal, metal fractions, and related human health problems of metals in oil-bearing soils of Akwa Ibom State were appraised using standard procedures. The study aimed at assessing the effects of crude oil and related activities on the properties of soil including metals (Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb and V), their fractions and associated health problems. Results showed that, levels of parameters were higher in the soils examined than in the control. The entire metals examined, apart from Cd, were within their acceptable limits however; higher than the limits for agricultural soils. Cd and Cr existed mainly in the readily available fraction, while Ni, Pb, and V occurred mainly in the reducible fraction in the studied soils. Conversely, these metals, except Cd, occurred principally in the inert fraction in the control. V/Ni ratio confirmed the soils as oil-forming continents and of organic matter origin. The natural factor, crude oil, and oil-related activities were major sources of soil contaminants. Anthropogenic proportions of metals were more in the soils investigated than in the background soil. The locations were contaminated with metals. Daily intake rates of metals were within their recommended doses except for Pb. The pollution status of the oil-bearing soils and the related human health risks have been revealed.

How Would Covid-19 Survivors Travel?: A Study on Travelling Behavior Bali Domestic Tourists

This study aims to discover how tourists whose background as COVID-19 survivors and the perceived health-related risks when traveling and how it affects their travel behavior in the future. This research is motivated by the lack of study on tourist traveling behavior, particularly from a specific segment of respondents. These respondents are tourists who were diagnosed positive for COVID-19 and have already recovered from it and are currently on vacation in two areas in Bali, Denpasar, and Badung. Sampling in this study is based on a purposive convenience sampling method through questionnaires distributed online and offline. In addition, The author uses Roscoe's Theory as a baseline in obtaining the minimum number of respondents, where a total of 100 respondents were gathered on the field. The author used multiple linear regression analysis to analyze the data collected from this research. The results of this study found that: (1) perceived health risks do not have a significant influence on future travel behavior; (2) tourists’ conditions as COVID-19 survivors have a significant influence on future travel behavior; and (3) simultaneously, health risks and tourists’ conditions as COVID-19 survivors influence future travel behavior. This study concludes that reducing perceived health risks and improving the health conditions of tourists as Covid-19 Survivors will improve their travel behavior in the future. The limitations of this study can also be used as suggestions for further research.

Variation of Major Chemical Composition in Seed-Propagated Population of Wild Cocoa Tea Plant Camellia ptilophylla Chang.

Excessive intake of high-caffeine tea will induce health-related risk. Therefore, breeding and cultivating tea cultivars with less caffeine is a feasible way to control daily caffeine intake. Cocoa tea (Camellia ptilophylla Chang) is a wild tea plant which grows leaves with little or no caffeine. However, the vegetative propagation of cocoa tea plants is difficult due to challenges with rooting. Whether natural seeds collected from wild cocoa tea plants can be used to produce less-caffeinated tea remains unknown, because research on the separation of traits among the seed progeny population is lacking. The present study was set to investigate the variation of caffeine and other chemical compositions in seed-propagated plant individuals using colorimetric and HPLC methods. It shows that there were great differences in chemical composition among the seed-propagated population of wild cocoa tea plants, among which some individuals possessed caffeine contents as high as those of normal cultivated tea cultivars (C. sinensis), suggesting that the naturally seed-propagated cocoa tea seedlings are not suitable for directly cultivating leaf materials to produce low-caffeine tea. Therefore, the cocoa tea plants used for harvesting seeds for growing low-caffeine tea plants should be isolated in order to prevent their hybridization with normal cultivated C. sinensis plants. Interestingly, the leaves of cocoa tea seedlings contained high levels of gallocatechin gallate (GCG) and would be a good source of leaf materials for extracting more stable antioxidant, because GCG is a more stable antioxidant than epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), the dominant component of catechins in normal cultivated tea cultivars. Some plant individuals which contained low levels of caffeine along with high levels of amino acids and medium levels of catechins, are considered to be promising for further screening of less-caffeinated green tea cultivars.

Economic Evaluation of Health Cost of Pesticide Use: Willingness to Pay Method

This study highlights the results of contingent valuation method to measure health cost of pesticide use from farmer’s point of view. Analysis shows that farmers have a positive willingness to pay for avoiding pesticide related health risks. Theoretical validity tests show that relevant indicators such as risk perception, previous experience of pesticide related poisoning, education and income are significant predictors for the positive WTP. From the results it is evident that health effects of pesticide use provided motivation for farmers to pay more for practices like IPM that reduce dependence on pesticide use which in turn a strong motivation for policy-makers to continue research on IPM and its implementation. Keywords: Health Cost, WTP, Pesticide Use, IPM.

Quantifying nitrate pollution sources of shallow groundwater and related health risks based on deterministic and Monte Carlo models: A study in Huaibei mining area, Huaibei coalfield, China

Nitrate pollution in groundwater is a global environmental concern. As a result, accurate identification of potential sources for such pollution is of critical significance to the effective control of groundwater quality. In this study, forty-nine shallow groundwater samples were collected from the Huaibei mining area. Hydro-chemical characterization, geospatial analysis technique, dual nitrate isotopes (δ15N-NO3- and δ18O-NO3-), Bayesian model and health risk assessment model were adopted for exploring the conditions, sources, proportion, and potential health risks of nitrate pollution for the first time in the study area. The results showed that the nitrate concentration ranged from 0.00 to 293.21 mg/L, and that 18.37% groundwater samples exceeded the standard of drinking water in China (GB 5749–2006). Based on the dual isotopic values of nitrate, it could be concluded that nitrification was dominated migration and transformation process of nitrogen. The results of Bayesian model showed that the proportional contributions of the potential nitrate pollution sources in shallow groundwater were manure and sewage (M&S) (39.54 %), NH4+ in fertilizer and precipitation (NHF&P) (34.93 %), soil nitrogen (SN) (14.89 %), and NO3- in atmospheric deposition (NAD) (10.64 %). The health risk assessment indicated that non-carcinogenic risks posed by NO3--N was higher for children than adults. The primary exposure pathway was oral ingestion. Monte Carlo simulation were applied to evaluate model uncertainty. The probabilities of non-carcinogenic risks were up to 12.54 % for children and 5.22 % for adults. In order to protect water quality and drinking water safety, it was suggested that effective nitrate reduction strategies and better management practices can be implemented.

EMBRACING GENDER DIVERSITY: REIMAGINING HEALTH AND HEALTH EQUITY FOR TRANSGENDER OLDER ADULTS

Abstract This presentation will share results of in-depth focus groups exploring eight transgender older adults’ (TOAs) experiences of health and healthcare and related themes, explain weathering and factors contributing to health and healthcare disparities, and apply the Sexual and Gender Minority Health Disparities Research Framework to explore strategies to address individual, interpersonal, community, and societal factors to foster health and health equity. TOAs represent an underserved population at elevated risk for lower socioeconomic status, higher rates of disability and chronic illness, and poorer overall physical and mental health compared to their non-transgender LGBQ and cisgender peers. Due to their unique life experiences including difficult decisions about “coming out” and transitioning, lack of acceptance of being transgender, and physiological impacts of hormonal and surgical treatments, transgender individuals experience long-term chronic stress and accumulate health-related risks as they age, contributing to significant health disparities. Higher levels of illness, disability, and premature death among historically disadvantaged groups can be explained by weathering, the accumulated impact of social disadvantages and socio-political inequalities over the life course producing premature biological aging. A 2019 systematic review of LGBTQ aging literature found that only 10% of studies included trans-identified participants and few addressed the needs of transgender older adults. Understanding the lived experiences of TOAs including healthcare access and receipt, and psychological, social, and financial experiences across the life course, is crucial to understanding current disparities in health and healthcare, developing strategies to improve care and reduce inequities, and fostering health and health equity of transgender older adults.

Exposed Body Surface Area-A Determinate for UV Radiant Energy in Human UV Exposure Studies.

Solar ultraviolet (UV) exposure of people and related health risk is mainly examined by estimating the received UV radiant exposure. However, for several effects such as DNA damage, vitamin D photosynthesis or the probability of developing skin cancer, UV radiant energy is important and with that the size of exposed skin area. There is also a complex interaction between body shape and behavior like sun exposure habits, so that careful analysis is necessary when estimating health effects from UV exposure. In this paper, knowledge on body shape and methods of calculating the total body surface area (BSA) are summarized. BSA depends mainly on the height and weight of a person as well as on gender, ethnicity and body shape. BSA and body shape differ significantly between different populations and both change during life. This paper proposes formulas for BSA that consider height, weight, gender, ethnicity and body shape. As the exposed BSA depends on clothing, finally an approach is presented which aims to calculate the size of body parts released by real garments. In summary, this paper will enable future researchers to quantify the exposed BSA by best matching their study population and consequently investigate risks caused by solar UV exposure.

The Association between Subjective Well-Being and Risky Behaviours in University Students

This study examined the mediating role of social factors (friends’ substance use, living with family and having a romantic partner) in the relationship between subjective well-being and health-risk behaviours. This is a cross-sectional study of 840 Portuguese university students that used a probabilistic sampling technique. The data were gathered using a paper-and-pencil questionnaire which included three main areas: subjective well-being, health behaviours and social factors. Structural equations were used for modelling and analysis in order to test the mediating effect of the social factors in the correlation between subjective well-being and risky behaviours. Structural equation modelling showed that behaviours that put one’s health at risk were directly and positively related to having friends who use psychoactive substances and negatively with the following variables: having a romantic partner and living with family. The mediation analysis showed that social factors significantly mediated the correlation between subjective well-being and health-related risk behaviours. This study highlights the importance of taking into account the importance of social networks when designing educational interventions to improve student health in higher education settings.

Effects of a free health insurance programme for the poor on health service utilisation and financial protection in Senegal

IntroductionImplemented in 2013 in Senegal, the Programme National de Bourses de Sécurité Familiale (PNBSF) is a national cash transfer programme for poor households. Besides reducing household poverty and encouraging children’s...

Depression and anxiety in second and third trimesters among pregnant women in Kenya: A hospital-based prevalence study

• Prenatal depression and anxiety symptoms were less prevalent than previously reported in studies conducted in similar settings. • Unplanned pregnancy was the strongest factor associated with both depression and anxiety symptoms. • Depressive symptoms were more prevalent than anxiety symptoms with low comorbidity rates. • Factors independently associated with prenatal depression and anxiety were: • Low income > feeling unhappy with the pregnancy > unplanned pregnancy > not seeking mental-health help in the past. • Findings suggest that not all women in LMIC have the same risk for perinatal depression and anxiety. : While risk of depression appears greatest in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy, few studies have examined prenatal depression and its comorbidity with anxiety in Africa. The present study aimed to assess the prevalence of prenatal depression and anxiety among pregnant women in Kenya, and to identify sociodemographic and health-related risk factors. : A convenience sample of 395 pregnant women in their second or third trimesters was recruited. Depressive symptoms were screened for using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, with scores ≥ 12 indicating a high possibility of depression, and the Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 scale screened for anxiety with scores ≥ 10 indicating possible anxiety. : Overall, 16.2% and 6.6% of women had depression and anxiety symptoms, respectively, and 12.5% of those with depressive symptoms also had anxiety. Multivariate ordinal logistic regressions revealed that unplanned pregnancy, income status, and feeling less happy about the pregnancy were significant predictors of both depression and anxiety. Younger maternal age and having no history of seeking psychological help also significantly increased the odds of depression and anxiety, respectively. : The study sample represents women in the upper end of the economic spectrum, thus limiting the generalisability of the findings to the general population of women in Kenya. : Depression and anxiety were less prevalent than in previous studies from low-and-middle income countries (LMIC), but still signify a threat to maternal mental health and pose a risk to maternal mental health and infant developmental outcomes. Routine screening for depression is recommended to enable timely intervention.

ASSESSMENT OF HEALTH-RELATED RISKS AMONG ADOLESCENTS LIVING IN SHELTER HOMES OF ISLAMABAD

Shelter homes are a mean of providing accommodation to the disadvantaged people of different age ranges. The aim of the study was to assess the risks associated with the health of adolescents living in shelter homes of Islamabad. The demographic variables which have association with these risks were also evaluated. For this purpose, a cross-sectional survey was carried out at 4 shelter homes of Islamabad. A total of 400 respondents were selected through multistage sampling. A questionnaire consisting of socio-demographic and modified HRA (Health Risk Assessment) Model was used for data collection. Data was analyzed by using SPSS version 26. Pearson Chi-square test was applied to find factors associated with risk behaviors and p value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Results showed that 82% of the study population was male. Majority of the respondents lie between 13-15 years of age group. It was found that nearly 51% of the respondents were on health risk. Gender, age, education level, family structure and no. in siblings have significant association with health risk behaviors (p value<0.05). It can be concluded that adolescents living in shelter homes are prone to develop health risk behaviors with girls at more risk. Keywords: Adolescents, Health related risks, HRA model, Islamabad, Physical activity, Shelter homes.

Generating evidence on privacy outcomes to inform privacy risk management: A way forward?

Effective and efficient privacy risk management (PRM) is a necessary condition to support digitalization in health care and secondary use of patient data in research. To reduce privacy risks, current PRM frameworks are rooted in an approach trying to reduce undesired technical/organizational outcomes such as broken encryption or unintentional data disclosure. Comparing this with risk management in preventive or therapeutic medicine, a key difference becomes apparent: in health-related risk management, medicine focuses on person-specific health outcomes, whereas PRM mostly targets more indirect, technical/organizational outcomes. In this paper, we illustrate and discuss how a PRM approach based on evidence of person-specific privacy outcomes might look using three consecutive steps: i) a specification of undesired person-specific privacy outcomes, ii) empirical assessments of their frequency and severity, and iii) empirical studies on how effectively the available PRM interventions reduce their frequency or severity. After an introduction of these three steps, we cover their status quo and outline open questions and PRM-specific challenges in need of further conceptual clarification and feasibility studies. Specific challenges of an outcome-oriented approach to PRM include the potential delays between concrete threats manifesting and the resulting person/group-specific privacy outcomes. Moreover, new ways of exploiting privacy-sensitive information to harm individuals could be developed in the future. The challenges described are of technical, legal, ethical, financial and resource-oriented nature. In health research, however, there is explicit discussion about how to overcome such challenges to make important outcome-based assessments as feasible as possible. This paper concludes that it might be the time to have this discussion in the PRM field as well.

Risk and protective factors for posttraumatic stress disorder in trauma-exposed individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic – findings from a pan-European study

ABSTRACT Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is a health emergency resulting in multiple stressors that may be related to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Objective: This study examined relationships between risk and protective factors, pandemic-related stressors, and PTSD during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Data from the European Society of Traumatic Stress Studies (ESTSS) ADJUST Study were used. N = 4,607 trauma-exposed participants aged 18 years and above were recruited from the general populations of eleven countries (Austria, Croatia, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, and Sweden) from June to November 2020. We assessed sociodemographic (e.g. gender), pandemic-related (e.g. news consumption), and health-related (e.g. general health condition) risk and protective factors, pandemic-related stressors (e.g. fear of infection), and probable PTSD (PC-PTSD-5). The relationships between these variables were examined using logistic regression on multiple imputed data sets. Results: The prevalence of probable PTSD was 17.7%. Factors associated with an increased risk for PTSD were younger age, female gender, more than 3 h of daily pandemic-related news consumption (vs. no consumption), a satisfactory, poor, or very poor health condition (vs. a very good condition), a current or previous diagnosis of a mental disorder, and trauma exposure during the COVID-19 pandemic. Factors associated with a reduced risk for PTSD included a medium and high income (vs. very low income), face-to-face contact less than once a week or 3–7 times a week (vs. no contact), and digital social contact less than once a week or 1–7 days a week (vs. no contact). Pandemic-related stressors associated with an increased risk for PTSD included governmental crisis management and communication, restricted resources, restricted social contact, and difficult housing conditions. Conclusion: We identified risk and protective factors as well as stressors that may help identify trauma-exposed individuals at risk for PTSD, enabling more efficient and rapid access to care. HIGHLIGHTS N = 4,607 trauma-exposed adult participants were recruited from the general population during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The prevalence for probable posttraumatic stress disorder was 17.7%. We identified risk factors (e.g. poor health condition) and protective factors (e.g. social contact) associated with posttraumatic stress disorder.