Severity of exposure to Hurricane Katrina and PTSD
Citation: Chan CS, Rhodes JE. Measuring exposure in Hurricane Katrina: a meta-analysis and an integrative data analysis. PLoS One. 2014:9(4);e92899.
Language: Abstract and full text available in EN.
Free to view: Yes.
Funding sources: Natural Hazards Center (USA) and a Bollinger Memorial Research Grant.
What is this: In this systematic review, the authors searched for studies that measured the severity of exposure to Hurricane Katrina and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and general psychological distress among adults aged 18 years or older in New Orleans. They restricted their searches to peer-reviewed articles published in English between 2005 and 2011. The authors excluded studies of rescue workers. They found eight articles (2,934 participants). In the second part of the study, the authors broadened their criteria to include studies that did not use continuous variables to measure exposure severity, PTSD, or psychological distress. They found 21 studies, of which nine provided data.
What was found: There was a small-to-medium positive association between the severity of exposure to Hurricane Katrina and subsequent post-traumatic stress disorder. The strongest association was injury or perceived injury to oneself or others. Additional factors associated with PTSD and general psychological distress were loss of access to water, food, medicine, medical care, and pets.
Implications: Because heterogeneity between studies was related to questions about disaster-related stressors, the authors of the review suggested the future research would benefit from the inclusion of more objective measures to supplement self-reported data.
Other considerations: The authors of the review discuss their findings in the context of place of residence, race, ethnicity, sex, and age.
This summary was prepared by Beirut Ibrahim, checked by Jawaria Karim, and finalized by William Summerskill.