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| Title: | Posttraumatic Stress in Women after the September 11 Terrorist Attacks in New York City |
| Authors: | Pulcino, Tiffany
Galea, Sandro
Ahern, Jennifer
Resnick, Heidi S
Foley, Mary Kay
Vlahov, David |
| Issue Date: | 2003 |
| Citation: | Journal of Women's Health, 2003;12(8):809-820 <http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/40341> |
| 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 5 2.2 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.3–3.6) to OR 5 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. |
| Appears in Collections: | Public Health, School of (SPH)
Epidemiology, Department of (SPH)
Institute for Social Research (ISR)
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| Pulcino_Posttraumatic Stress in WOmen after_2003.pdf | | 164Kb | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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