Posttraumatic stress disorder and psychiatric co-morbidity: symptoms in a random sample of female Bosnian refugees.
OBJECTIVE
This study investigated psychological symptoms in Bosnian women 3-4 years after their arrival in Sweden.


METHODS
A simple random sample of 163 Bosnian women aged 19-59 was drawn from the Swedish populations register in 1996. The control group consisted of 392 Swedish-born women. Data were collected in face-to-face interviews. The Hopkins Symptom Checklist 25 (HSCL-25) and the Posttraumatic Symptom Scale (PTSS-10) were used to measure psychological symptoms of depression, anxiety, psychological distress, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Unconditional logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (OR) for psychological symptoms after adjustment for age, country of birth, education, marital status, economic difficulties, social network, and feeling secure.


RESULTS
The prevalence of symptoms of PTSD was 28.3% among the Bosnian women. Bosnian women had significantly higher risks of symptoms of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress than Swedish-born women. For depression the odds ratio was 9.50 among Bosnian women.


CONCLUSIONS
Psychiatric community interventions need to target Bosnian refugee women. Awareness among health-care workers who encounter these women in a clinical setting should be improved.
Sundquist
Kristina
K
Karolinska Institute, Department of Family Medicine, Center for Research in Migration Medicine and Psychiatry (MigraMed), Alfred Nobels allé 12, SE-141 83 Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden. kristina.sundquist@klinvet.ki.se
Johansson
Leena-Maria
LM
DeMarinis
Valeri
V
Johansson
Sven-Erik
SE
Sundquist
Jan
J
D000328:Adult; D017522:Bosnia and Herzegovina / Q000208:ethnology; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012944:Social Support; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology