Prevalence in police officers

What is prevalence of PTSD in police officers?

Prevalence represents the overall proportion of individuals in a population who have the disorder of interest. It is different from incidence, which represents only the new cases that have developed over a particular time period. Point prevalence is the proportion of individuals who have the disorder at a given point in time. Period prevalence is the proportion of individuals who have the disorder over specific time periods. Lifetime prevalence is the proportion of individuals who have ever had the disorder. Lifetime morbid risk also includes those who had the disorder but were deceased at the time of the survey.

What is the evidence for the prevalence of PTSD?

Moderate quality evidence finds the current prevalence of PTSD in police officers exposed to a major disaster is around 4.7%.

The prevalence of PTSD in officers exposed to the World Trade Centre attack ranged from 8.5% 1-5 years after the attack to 16.5% 5-6 years after the attack, and then 13% by 11.5 years after the attack.

August 2021

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Last updated at: 4:05 am, 8th October 2021
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