Epidemiology of posttraumatic stress disorder – a prospective cohort study based on multiple nationwide Swedish registers of 4.6 million people

Rahman, Syed, Zammit, Stanley ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2647-9211, Dalman, Christina and Hollander, Anna-Clara 2022. Epidemiology of posttraumatic stress disorder – a prospective cohort study based on multiple nationwide Swedish registers of 4.6 million people. European Psychiatry 65 (1) , e60. 10.1192/j.eurpsy.2022.2311

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Abstract

Background Experiencing exceptionally threatening or horrifying traumas can lead to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Increasing political unrest/war/natural disasters worldwide could cause more traumatic events and change the population burden of PTSD. Most PTSD research is based on surveys, prone to selection/recall biases with inconsistent results. The aim was therefore, to use register-based data to identify the occurrence of PTSD and contributing factors in the Swedish general population. Methods This register-based cohort study used survival analysis. Individuals born between 1960–1995, aged ≥15 years, registered and living in Sweden, not emigrating, anytime between 1990–2015, not receiving specialized care for PTSD before 2006 were included (N = 4,673,764), and followed from their 15th/16th birth date until first PTSD diagnosis between 2006–2016 or study endpoint (31-December-2016). PTSD cases (ICD-10: F43.1) were identified from the national patient register. Mean follow-up time was 18.8 years. Results Between 2006–2016, the incidence of specialized healthcare utilization for PTSD nearly doubled, and 0.7% of the study population received such care. The highest risk was observed for refugees [aHR 8.18; 95% CI:7.85–8.51] and for those with depressive disorder [aHR 4.51; 95% CI:3.95–5.14]. Higher PTSD risk was associated with female sex, older age, low education, single parenthood, low household income, urbanicity, and being born to a foreign-born parent. Conclusions PTSD is more common among refugee migrants, individuals with psychiatric disorders, and the socioeconomically disadvantaged. It is important that provision of services for PTSD are made available, particularly to these higher risk, and often hard-to-reach groups.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Medicine MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics (CNGG)
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
ISSN:	0924-9338
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	16 August 2022
Date of Acceptance:	15 August 2022
Last Modified:	11 Oct 2023 21:25
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/151974

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