title: Post-traumatic stress disorder status in a rescue group after the Wenchuan earthquake relief.
abstract: Previous studies have suggested that the incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder in earthquake rescue workers is relatively high. Risk factors for this disorder include demographic characteristics, earthquake-related high-risk factors, risk factors in the rescue process, personality, social support and coping style. This study examined the current status of a unit of 1 040 rescue workers who participated in earthquake relief for the Wenchuan earthquake that occurred on May 12(th), 2008. Post-traumatic stress disorder was diagnosed primarily using the Clinician-Administered Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Scale during structured interviews. Univariate and multivariate statistical analyses were used to examine major risk factors that contributed to the incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder. Results revealed that the incidence of this disorder in the rescue group was 5.96%. The impact factors in univariate analysis included death of family members, contact with corpses or witnessing of the deceased or seriously injured, near-death experience, severe injury or mental trauma in the rescue process and working at the epicenter of the earthquake. Correlation analysis suggested that post-traumatic stress disorder was positively correlated with psychotic and neurotic personalities, negative coping and low social support. Impact factors in multivariate logistic regression analysis included near-death experience, severe injury or mental trauma, working in the epicenter of the rescue, neurotic personality, negative coping and low social support, among which low social support had the largest odds ratio of 20.42. Findings showed that the occurrence of post-traumatic stress disorder was the result of the interaction of multiple factors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Huaxi Public Health School of Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China ; Yunnan General Hospital of the Chinese People's Armed Police Forces, Kunming 650111, Yunnan Province, China.
authors.forename: Junhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Counseling, Yunnan General Hospital of the Chinese People's Armed Police Forces, Kunming 650111, Yunnan Province, China.
authors.forename: Qunying
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Counseling, Sichuan General Hospital of the Chinese People's Armed Police Forces, Leshan 614000, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Jinliang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Yunnan General Hospital of the Chinese People's Armed Police Forces, Kunming 650111, Yunnan Province, China.
authors.forename: Xuejiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical College, Kunming 650032, Yunnan Province, China.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: You
authors.affiliation: Kunming Center for Disease Control, Kunming 650228, Yunnan Province, China.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Scientific Research and Experimental Center, Kunming Medical College, Kunming 650031, Yunnan Province, China.
authors.forename: Changfu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Huaxi Public Health School of Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Rongsheng
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Luan
keywords: Wenchuan earthquake; coping style; cross-sectional investigation; incidence; influencing factor; neural regeneration; neuroregeneration; personality; post-traumatic stress disorder; rescue groups; risk factors; social support