Impact of childhood exposure to a natural disaster on adult mental health: 20-year longitudinal follow-up study.
BACKGROUND
Studies examining the impact of childhood disaster exposure on the development of adult psychopathology report increased rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other psychopathology.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the rates of PTSD and other lifetime DSM-IV disorders in adults exposed to an Australian bushfire disaster as children in 1983 using a matched control sample recruited at the time of the original study.


METHODS
A total of 1011 adults recruited from an original sample of 1531 were assessed 20 years following the fires using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI-2.1).


RESULTS
Results showed only a small direct impact of the fires on adult psychiatric morbidity. A higher proportion of bushfire survivors met criteria for 'any DSM-IV disorder' and ;any anxiety'.


CONCLUSIONS
Findings suggest that the long-term impact of a prominent trauma in childhood should be assessed in the context of other lifetime trauma in order to provide a more accurate account of PTSD prevalence rates.
McFarlane
Alexander C
AC
Dip Psychother, Centre for Military and Veterans' Health, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia. miranda.vanhooff@adelaide.edu.au
Van Hooff
Miranda
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D004190:Disasters; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005390:Fires; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult