Epidemiology

Exposure to a traumatic event is vital in PTSD.

• 44.1%of men and 40.4% of women reported having experienced a major traumatic event at some point in their life
• 33.3% of adults reported having had their most recent experience of trauma since the age of 16
• exposure to a traumatic event was higher in men than in women (35.2% compared to 31.5%) but women experience higher impact events (1,2)
• exposure to a traumatic event was less likely in young people than older people (due to the short amount of time for which they had been adults) (1)

Around 3.0% of adults in England screened positive for current post-traumatic stress disorder

• difference in sex was not significant amongst the PTSD positive patients (2.6% of men versus 3.3% of women)
• 28% of people screened positive for PTSD were also on treatment for other psychiatric problems when compared to 7% in people who were negative for PTSD (1)

The risk of developing PTSD varies with the trauma type e.g. - greater in interpersonal violence than in accidents (3). Traumatic events associated with high PTSD rates include:

• rape – 50%
• disasters - 30-40%
• veterans of the Vietnam war – 19%
• accidents and non-physical assaults – low (4)

Reference:

• (1) The NHS Information Centre for health and social care. Adult psychiatric morbidity in England, 2007. Results of a household survey.
• (2) National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) 2005. Post – traumatic stress disorder. The management of PTSD in adults and in children in primary and secondary care
• (3) Ehlers A, Gene-Cos N, Perrin S. Low recognition of post-traumatic stress disorder in primary care. London Journal of Primary Care 2009;2:36–42
• (4) Bisson JI. Post-traumatic stress disorder. BMJ. 2007;334(7597):789-93