Posttraumatic Stress in Women after the September 11 Terrorist Attacks in New York City

Tiffany L. Pulcino · Sandro Galea · Jennifer Ahern · Heidi S. Resnick · David Vlahov

91 citations0/0 files storedJournal of Women s Health

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Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research COVID-19 and Mental Health Migration, Health and Trauma

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 = 2.2 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.3-3.6) to OR = 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.

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1994Lifetime and 12-Month Prevalence of DSM-III-R Psychiatric Disorders in the United States 1995Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in the National Comorbidity Survey 1991The MOS social support survey 1992The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID)2001Social Ties and Mental Health 2002Psychological Sequelae of the September 11 Terrorist Attacks in New York City 1993Prevalence of civilian trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in a representative national sample of women.2002Nationwide Longitudinal Study of Psychological Responses to September 11

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2009The effects of vicarious exposure to the recent massacre at Virginia Tech.2005Gender differences in posttraumatic stress disorderamong primary care patients after the World Trade Center attack of September 11, 2001

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