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The Longitudinal Course of Posttraumatic Morbidity The Range of Outcomes and Their Predictors
510
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0
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1988
Year
TraumatologyEducationMental HealthTrauma Systems PlanningFire ProtectionVisceral TraumaPosttraumatic MorbidityLongitudinal CoursePsychiatryFire SafetyExtreme TraumaOutcomes ResearchRapid Trauma AssessmentPredisaster VariablesMedicineFire Safety EducationTheir PredictorsEmergency MedicinePost-traumatic Stress Disorder
This study followed 469 firefighters for 25 months after a bushfire disaster, using the General Health Questionnaire to define patterns of posttraumatic morbidity. The study found that acute posttraumatic morbidity was uncommon, with delayed‑onset or chronic forms prevailing, and that pre‑disaster factors were as influential as disaster losses or exposure, indicating that extreme trauma alone does not explain morbidity onset or pattern.
This study examined the longitudinal course, over a 25-month period, of posttraumatic morbidity in a group of 469 firefighters exposed to a bushfire disaster. The patterns of posttraumatic morbidity were defined by the General Health Questionnaire. Contrary to expectation, an acute pattern of morbidity was less common than the delayed-onset or chronic forms. Predisaster variables were found to be as important in the onset and course of the disorder as were the firefighters' losses or extent of exposure to the disaster. These data suggest that exposure to an extreme trauma is necessary but not sufficient to explain the onset and pattern of posttraumatic morbidity.