Study into long-term trauma from 9/11
Source: Agencies |
January 6, 2011, Thursday
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MANY civilian survivors of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center were still suffering from symptoms of post-traumatic stress several years after the 2001 disaster, a study has revealed.
The study, the first to focus on the long-term mental health of people who were actually in the Twin Towers on the morning of September 11, also found that the biggest predictor of long-term post-traumatic stress disorder had nothing to do with the disaster itself.
Instead, it was income.
The research team, led by Sandro Galea of Columbia University in New York, surveyed nearly 3,700 people who escaped the Trade Center and found that 96 percent still had at least one symptom of PTSD two to three years later.
Of those, 15 percent screened positive for full-blown PTSD, a rate about four times higher than that seen in the general population in any given year."We are learning that (September 11) had long-lasting mental health effects," Galea said.
He said his team's findings help pinpoint survivors who appear to be at particular risk of long-term PTSD. Not -surprisingly, the risk rose along with the severity of the trauma people went through on September 11.
People who had escaped from floors above the planes' "impact zone" were at greater risk than those who had escaped from lower floors.
Galea's team found that the biggest predictor of long-term PTSD was income.
Among survivors, those making under US$25,000 at the time of the study, half had probable PTSD. Compared with six percent of survivors earning at least US$100,000.
"There could be many explanations, but one is access to resources," Galea said, referring to the fact that higher income people have more options for getting support.
The study, the first to focus on the long-term mental health of people who were actually in the Twin Towers on the morning of September 11, also found that the biggest predictor of long-term post-traumatic stress disorder had nothing to do with the disaster itself.
Instead, it was income.
The research team, led by Sandro Galea of Columbia University in New York, surveyed nearly 3,700 people who escaped the Trade Center and found that 96 percent still had at least one symptom of PTSD two to three years later.
Of those, 15 percent screened positive for full-blown PTSD, a rate about four times higher than that seen in the general population in any given year."We are learning that (September 11) had long-lasting mental health effects," Galea said.
He said his team's findings help pinpoint survivors who appear to be at particular risk of long-term PTSD. Not -surprisingly, the risk rose along with the severity of the trauma people went through on September 11.
People who had escaped from floors above the planes' "impact zone" were at greater risk than those who had escaped from lower floors.
Galea's team found that the biggest predictor of long-term PTSD was income.
Among survivors, those making under US$25,000 at the time of the study, half had probable PTSD. Compared with six percent of survivors earning at least US$100,000.
"There could be many explanations, but one is access to resources," Galea said, referring to the fact that higher income people have more options for getting support.
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