Pathways to PTSD, part I: Children with burns.
OBJECTIVE
The goal of this study was to develop a model of risk factors for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a group of acutely burned children.


METHODS
Seventy-two children between the ages of 7 and 17 who were admitted to the hospital for an acute burn were eligible for study. Members of families who consented completed the Child PTSD Reaction Index, the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children, and other self-report measures of psychopathology and environmental stress both during the hospitalization and 3 months following the burn. A path analytic strategy was used to build a model of risk factors for PTSD.


RESULTS
Two pathways to PTSD were discerned: 1) from the size of the burn and level of pain following the burn to the child's level of acute separation anxiety, and then to PTSD, and 2) from the size of the burn to the child's level of acute dissociation following the burn, and then to PTSD. Together these pathways accounted for almost 60% of the variance in PTSD symptoms and constituted a model with excellent fit indices.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings support a model of complex etiology for childhood PTSD in which two independent pathways may be mediated by different biobehavioral systems.
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Dowling 1 North, 1 Boston Medical Center Place, Boston, MA 02118, USA. glenn.saxe@bmc.org
Glenn N
GN
Saxe
Frederick
F
Stoddard
Erin
E
Hall
Neharika
N
Chawla
Carlos
C
Lopez
Robert
R
Sheridan
Daniel
D
King
Lynda
L
King
Rachel
R
Yehuda
D000367:Age Factors; D001010:Anxiety, Separation / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D001830:Body Surface Area; D002056:Burns / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002673:Child, Hospitalized / Q000523:psychology; D004213:Dissociative Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D010146:Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D010147:Pain Measurement; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology