title: Acute stress disorder after burn injury: a predictor of posttraumatic stress disorder?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The principal goals of this study were to determine whether ASD predicted chronic PTSD and whether dissociation is more characteristic of the acute-trauma period than PTSD symptoms.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighty-three hospitalized adult burn patients were assessed with structured interviews and self-report measures within 2 weeks of injury and again at least 6 months postburn.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nineteen percent had ASD. Dissociative symptoms were not more common or more severe than PTSD symptoms. Thirty-six percent had chronic PTSD. While ASD predicted chronic PTSD, meeting the symptom criteria for PTSD within 2 weeks postburn also predicted chronic PTSD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data support the inclusion of an ASD diagnosis in the DSM, which would allow the diagnosis of symptoms in the first month posttrauma as a psychiatric disorder but questions whether dissociation is more characteristic of the acute trauma period than the PTSD symptom clusters.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and William Randolph Hearst Burn Center, The New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY 10021, USA. jdifede@med.cornell.edu
authors.forename: JoAnn
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Difede
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Ptacek
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Barocas
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Rives
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Apfeldorf
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yurt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002056:Burns / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D040701:Stress Disorders, Traumatic, Acute / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires