European Psychiatry
Volume 20, Issue 2, 2005, Pages 158-164

Posttraumatic stress disorder and psychiatric co-morbidity: Symptoms in a random sample of female Bosnian refugees (Article)

Sundquist K.* , Johansson L.-M. , DeMarinis V. , Johansson S.-E. , Sundquist J.
  • a Karolinska Institute, Department of Family Medicine, Ctr. Res. Migration Med. Psychiat., Alfred Nobels allé 12, SE-141 83 Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden
  • b Karolinska Institute, Department of Family Medicine, Ctr. Res. Migration Med. Psychiat., Alfred Nobels allé 12, SE-141 83 Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden
  • c Theological Institute, Psychology of Religion, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
  • d Karolinska Institute, Department of Family Medicine, Ctr. Res. Migration Med. Psychiat., Alfred Nobels allé 12, SE-141 83 Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden
  • e Karolinska Institute, Department of Family Medicine, Ctr. Res. Migration Med. Psychiat., Alfred Nobels allé 12, SE-141 83 Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden

Abstract

Objectives. - This study investigated psychological symptoms in Bosnian women 3-4 years after their arrival in Sweden. Subjects and methods. - A simple random sample of 163 Bosnian women aged 19-59 was drawn from the Swedish populations register in 1996. The control group consisted of 392 Swedish-born women. Data were collected in face-to-face interviews. The Hopkins Symptom Checklist 25 (HSCL-25) and the Posttraumatic Symptom Scale (PTSS-10) were used to measure psychological symptoms of depression, anxiety, psychological distress, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Unconditional logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (OR) for psychological symptoms after adjustment for age, country of birth, education, marital status, economic difficulties, social network, and feeling secure. Results. - The prevalence of symptoms of PTSD was 28.3% among the Bosnian women. Bosnian women had significantly higher risks of symptoms of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress than Swedish-born women. For depression the odds ratio was 9.50 among Bosnian women. Conclusion. - Psychiatric community interventions need to target Bosnian refugee women. Awareness among health-care workers who encounter these women in a clinical setting should be improved. © 2005 Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.

Author Keywords

Mental health PTSD Bosnian refugees Random sample

Index Keywords

anxiety rating scale depression refugee clinical feature human risk assessment comorbidity economic aspect controlled study priority journal marriage female risk factor socioeconomics prevalence Article major clinical study adult posttraumatic stress disorder distress syndrome age distribution
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-15744373150&doi=10.1016%2fj.eurpsy.2004.12.001&partnerID=40&md5=aeab84f0c1621dc136d953fa29252ddc
DOI: 10.1016/j.eurpsy.2004.12.001
ISSN: 09249338
Cited by: 26
Original Language: English