WUNRN
SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 - ATTACK ON
AMERICA - WORLD CHANGED - WOMEN
____________________________________________________________________
Journal of Women's Health
http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/154099903322447774
Posttraumatic
Stress in Women after the September 11 Terrorist Attacks in NYC
Published in Volume: 12 Issue 8: July 7, 2004
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Author
Information
Tiffany
Pulcino, BS
Mount
Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York. Center for Urban Epidemiologic
Studies, New York Academy of Medicine, New York, New York
Sandro
Galea, MD, DrPH
Center
for Urban Epidemiologic Studies, New York Academy of Medicine, New York, New
York
Jennifer
Ahern, MPH
Center
for Urban Epidemiologic Studies, New York Academy of Medicine, New York, New
York
Heidi
Resnick, PhD
National
Crime Victims' Research and Treatment Center, Medical University of South
Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina
Mary
Foley, EdD
Mount
Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York
David
Vlahov, PhD
Center
for Urban Epidemiologic Studies, New York Academy of Medicine, New York, New
York
ABSTRACT
Background: Women have been shown to be at higher risk than men of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after traumatic events. Women in New York City were more likely than men to have probable PTSD 5-8 weeks after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. We explored the factors that could explain the higher prevalence of probable PTSD among women in the aftermath of the attacks.
Methods: Data from a telephone survey of a randomly selected group of residents of Manhattan living south of 110th street, conducted 5-8 weeks after September 11, were used in these analyses. The survey assessed demographic information, lifetime experience of traumatic events, life stressors, social support, event exposure variables, perievent panic attacks, postevent concerns, and probable PTSD related to the attacks. We determined the contribution of key covariates that could explain the gender-probable PTSD relation through stratified analyses and manual stepwise logistic regression model building.
Results: Among 988 respondents, women were two times more likely than men to report symptoms consistent with probable PTSD after the September 11 attacks. When adjusted for potential confounders, the association between gender and probable PTSD diminished from OR = 2.2 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.3-3.6) to OR = 1.2 (95% CI 0.7-2.2).
Conclusions: These results suggest that specific
behavioral and biographic factors (including previous traumatic experiences and
psychological disorders, social responsibilities, and perievent emotional
reactions) explained most of the excess burden of probable PTSD among women
after a disaster. Isolating the characteristics that place women at greater
risk for probable PTSD after disasters can inform public health prevention strategies
and spur further research.