title: Assessment of posttraumatic stress symptoms in children who are medically ill and children presenting to a child trauma program.
abstract: To test the utility of the UCLA posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Index for DSM-IV (U-PTSD-I)(c) for predicting PTSD diagnosis in children with and without medical illnesses. The U-PTSD-I and a standard psychiatric interview were administered to medically ill children (n = 76) and children who experienced other traumatic events (n = 31). We found U-PTSD-I's sensitivity and specificity was better in the nonmedical illness cohort. Only intrusion symptoms were significantly associated with the diagnosis of PTSD in the medically ill. In conclusion, the U-PTSD-I performs better among general trauma versus medically ill patients. Intrusion symptoms should be focused on when assessing PTSD in medically ill children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Box 1230, Mount Sinai Medical Center, 1 Gustave L Levy Place, New York, NY 10029, USA. eyal.Shemesh@mssm.edu
authors.forename: Eyal
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Shemesh
authors.forename: Rachel A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Annunziato
authors.forename: Jeffrey H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Newcorn
authors.forename: Lori
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rockmore
authors.forename: Linda M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Bierer
authors.forename: Judith A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schmeidler
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yehuda
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000628:therapy*