title: Acute stress disorder as a predictor of posttraumatic stress: A longitudinal study of Chinese children exposed to the Lushan earthquake.
abstract: This study examined the prevalence of acute stress disorder (ASD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children who experienced the Lushan earthquake in Sichuan, China, and assessed the ability of ASD to predict PTSD. The Acute Stress Disorder Scale (ASDS) was used to assess acute stress reaction within weeks of the trauma. The University of California at Los Angeles Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Reaction Index (UCLA-PTSD) for children was administered at intervals of 2, 6, and 12 months after the earthquake to 197 students who experienced the Lushan earthquake at the Longxing Middle School. The results demonstrated that 28.4% of the children suffered from ASD, but only a small percentage of the population went on to develop PTSD. Among all of the students, 35.0% of those who met the criteria for ASD were diagnosed with PTSD at the 12-month interval. The severity of ASD symptoms correlated with later PTSD symptoms.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.|Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Peiling
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. zhangyq@psych.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Yuqing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.|Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Chuguang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Zhengkui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hannak
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002681:China; D004190:Disasters; D055866:Earthquakes; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D040701:Stress Disorders, Traumatic, Acute / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*
keywords: Lushan earthquake; acute stress disorder (ASD); posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); predictive index