title: Posttraumatic stress disorder after treatment for breast cancer: prevalence of diagnosis and use of the PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C) as a screening instrument.
abstract: The presence of a posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis in women (n = 82) diagnosed with Stage 0-IIIA breast cancer was assessed 6 to 72 months after cancer therapy. The PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C) and the PTSD module for the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV, Nonpatient Version, PTSD module (SCID-NP-PTSD) were administered in a telephone interview. SCID-NP-PTSD results indicated prevalence rates of 6% and 4% for current and lifetime PTSD, respectively. Use of the recommended cutoff score of 50 on the PCL-C to determine diagnosis of current cancer-related PTSD resulted in a sensitivity of .60 and a specificity of .99 with 2 false-negative diagnoses. In conclusion, PTSD can be precipitated by diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, and the PCL-C can be a cost-effective screening tool for this disorder.
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral Science, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington 40536-0086, USA. mandry@pop.uky.edu
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Andrykowski
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Cordova
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Studts
authors.forename: T W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*