title: Disaster-related posttraumatic stress symptoms and sustained attention: evaluation of depressive symptomatology and sleep disturbances as mediators.
abstract: Research about attentional functioning following trauma has almost exclusively been performed in patient populations with combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In this study the relationship between sustained attention and PTSD symptoms was examined in a community sample of survivors of a major disaster using the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT) and the Self-Rating Scale for PTSD (SRS-PTSD) 2-3 years postdisaster. Analyses revealed low but significant partial correlations between PTSD symptoms and the least difficult subtests, ruling out the effects of age, education, depressive symptomatology, and sleep disturbances. These results demonstrate that PTSD symptoms link to attentional dysfunction 2-3 years postdisaster.
authors.affiliation: Center for Psychological Trauma, Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center/De Meren, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. m.l.meewisse@amc.uva.nl
authors.forename: Marie-Louise
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Meewisse
authors.forename: Mirjam J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Nijdam
authors.forename: Giel-Jan
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: de Vries
authors.forename: Berthold P R
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Gersons
authors.forename: Rolf J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Kleber
authors.forename: Peter G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: van der Velden
authors.forename: Albert-Jan
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Roskam
authors.forename: Berdi
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Christiaanse
authors.forename: Annelieke N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Drogendijk
authors.forename: Miranda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Olff
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D005107:Explosions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires