Police officers who responded to 9/11: Comorbidity of PTSD, depression, and anxiety 10-11 years later.
After the 9/11/2001 World Trade Center (WTC) attack, many police-responders developed PTSD and might be vulnerable to develop depression and/or anxiety. Comorbidity of PTSD, depression, and/or anxiety is examined.



Police enrollees (N = 1,884) from the WTC Health Registry were categorized into four groups based on comorbidity of PTSD, depression, and anxiety. DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for PTSD were used. Depression (PHQ-8) and anxiety (GAD-7) were assessed with standardized psychometric inventories. Multinomial logistic regression was used to identify putative risk factors associated with comorbidity of PTSD.



Of 243 (12.9% of total) police with probable PTSD, 21.8% had probable PTSD without comorbidity, 24.7% had depression, 5.8% had anxiety, and 47.7% had comorbid depression and anxiety. Risk factors for comorbid PTSD, depression, and anxiety include being Hispanic, decrease in income, experiencing physical injury on 9/11, experiencing stressful/traumatic events since 9/11, and being unemployed/retired.



Nearly half of police with probable PTSD had comorbid depression and anxiety. Am. J. Ind. Med. 59:425-436, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Department of Psychology, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California.
Rosemarie M
RM
Bowler
California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University, San Francisco, California.
Erica S
ES
Kornblith
Division of Epidemiology, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, World Trade Center Health Registry, New York, New York.
Jiehui
J
Li
Department of Psychology, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California.
Shane W
SW
Adams
Department of Psychology, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California.
Vihra V
VV
Gocheva
Faculty of Health Sciences, Institute for Positive Psychology and Education, Australian Catholic University, Strathfield, New South Wales, Australia.|University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland.
Ralf
R
Schwarzer
Division of Epidemiology, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, World Trade Center Health Registry, New York, New York.
James E
JE
Cone
D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology*; D060731:Emergency Responders / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D009519:New York City / Q000453:epidemiology; D016495:Police / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics; D012307:Risk Factors; D057566:Self Report; D047851:September 11 Terrorist Attacks; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology*; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology; D014478:Unemployment / Q000523:psychology
9/11; comorbidity; police; posttraumatic stress disorder; risk factor