Posttraumatic sequelae in a community hit by an avalanche

To access publisher full text version of this article. Please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links field The posttraumatic sequelae for 104 adult inhabitants from the town of Flateyri, Iceland, were studied 10 weeks after an avalanche hit the town killing 20 people. Eighty-seven adults from th...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Finnsdottir, Thorunn, Elklit, Ask
Other Authors: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Landspítali, Iceland.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2008
Subjects:
Adult
Analysis of Variance
Case-Control Studies
Female
Humans
Iceland
Life Change Events
Male
Middle Aged
Natural Disasters
Risk Factors
Stress Disorders
Post-Traumatic
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/2336/30354
https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020969906251
Description
Summary:To access publisher full text version of this article. Please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links field The posttraumatic sequelae for 104 adult inhabitants from the town of Flateyri, Iceland, were studied 10 weeks after an avalanche hit the town killing 20 people. Eighty-seven adults from the neighboring town of Thingeyri constituted a control group. On the basis of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30), 25% of the Flateyri group (twice as many than in Thingeyri) reached a level of psychiatric caseness. The most common symptoms were intrusive thoughts and feelings, tension, sadness, and anxiety. The loss of family members was associated with symptomatology. A high number of former life events correlated more strongly with distress symptoms than with the individual appraisal of these events. Distress symptoms were related to gender, age, and education.

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