One third of children in road traffic accidents develop post-traumatic stress disorder

Comparatively little is known about the psychological effects of everyday traumas on children. On p 1619 Stallard et al assessed children who had been in road traffic and sporting accidents six weeks after they had attended an accident and emergency department. One third of the children in road traffic accidents fulfilled the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder compared with 3% of those in sporting accidents. Neither the type of accident nor the nature and severity of injuries was related to the presence of the disorder, although girls were more likely to be affected. Routine ways of identifying children who are likely to be psychologically affected need to be developed.


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    StumbleUpon    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

Prospective study of post-traumatic stress disorder in children involved in road traffic accidents

Paul Stallard, Richard Velleman, and Sarah Baldwin
BMJ 1998 317: 1619-1623. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]