A recent study published in JAMA Network Open found that 23.7% of adults in U.S. communities affected by mass violence incidents meet the criteria for past-year posttraumatic stress disorder.
The cross-sectional survey, which used the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth Edition) (DSM-5) criteria to determine presumptive posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnoses, included 5,991 adults from six communities impacted by mass violence incidents (MVIs) between 2015 and 2019, such as Dayton, Ohio, and Parkland, Florida.
Data collection occurred from February to September 2020, targeting adults aged 18 years and older using a household probability sample and address-based sampling. The response rate was 87.2%, with most respondents being female (53.5%) and having a mean age of 45.6 years. Exposure to MVIs was reported by 21.0% of participants.
The study found that 8.9% of participants met the criteria for current PTSD. Key risk factors identified include being female, having a history of physical or sexual assault, and prior exposure to other traumatic events. Women were more than twice as likely to develop past-year PTSD (odds ratio [OR], 2.32; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.01-2.68), and those with a history of both physical or sexual assault and other traumatic events were nearly ten times more likely (OR, 9.68; 95% CI, 7.48-12.52).
For current PTSD, the highest risks were linked to being female (OR, 2.20; 95% CI, 1.77-2.73), having a history of both physical or sexual assault and other potentially traumatic events (OR, 16.54; 95% CI, 9.53-28.72), and experiencing high levels of exposure to the mass violence incident (OR, 1.82; 95% CI, 1.45-2.28).
Regression analyses revealed that younger age, female gender, lower income, and lower social support were independently associated with increased PTSD risk. The authors noted that the prevalence of past-year PTSD (23.7%) is much higher than the general U.S. adult population prevalence of 4.7%.
Limitations of the study include the use of self-reported measures instead of clinician-administered interviews and the cross-sectional design, which precludes causal inferences.
Full disclosures can be found in the published study.
