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Prevalence in war and terrorism survivors

What is prevalence of PTSD in war and terrorism survivors?

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 in war and terrorism survivors?

Moderate quality evidence finds the prevalence of PTSD in conflict settings is 15.3%. It is up to 26% by 9 years post-conflict. Rates of PTSD were highest in women and in unemployed people. Rates were lowest in participants living with a partner.

Moderate to high quality evidence finds the prevalence of PTSD in war-affected refugees and citizens is 31%. Rates were highest in people exposed to recent conflict. Also in those exposed to torture, to more potentially traumatic events, and to political terrorism. They were also highest in people living in or from Cambodia, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Africa.

Moderate to low quality evidence finds the prevalence of PTSD in children exposed to the chronic Israeli-Palestinian conflict is between 21% and 44.6%. In children exposed to the Iranian war, prevalence of PTSD was 19% and in children exposed to the second Lebanese war, prevalence was 14.9%. Children exposed to the first Gulf war showed a prevalence of 7.8%, while children exposed to the World Trade Centre terrorist attack showed a prevalence rate of 17%.

Moderate quality evidence finds the prevalence of PTSD in direct victims of terrorist attacks after one year is between 33% and 39%. Indirect victims showed lower prevalence rates of PTSD (community = 4%, rescue teams = 5-6%, family and friends = 3-13.8%). The prevalence of PTSD in New York city residents and workers after the 9/11 terrorist attacks ranged from 11.9% at 2 weeks to 19.1% by 5-6 years after the attacks.

August 2021

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Last updated at: 2:21 am, 8th October 2021
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