TY - JOUR
T1 - Prevalence of psychiatric symptoms in children and adolescents one year after the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake
AU - Feo, Paolo
AU - Di Gioia, Simona
AU - Carloni, Emanuela
AU - Vitiello, Benedetto
AU - Tozzi, Alberto E.
AU - Vicari, Stefano
N1 - Funding Information:
The study was supported by the Ministers of the Infirm - Camillians - and Caritas Italiana, which are gratefully acknowledged, and was conducted thanks to the collaboration of the Italian Federation of Paediatricians (FIMP) and Abruzzo Family Paediatricians of the National Health System: C Albano, PMC Battistella, MT Bontempo, G Caravelli, MF Chiarieri, G Ciarelli, V Curti, N D'Amario, G De Felice, P De Gregorio, E Del Vomano, F Di Croce, T Di Giampietro, A Di Marzio, P Di Saverio, M Ferretti, T Galante, G Giampaolo, V Ippoliti, A Lamborghini, M Lanci, G Lanciaprima, M Lepido, MG Libertini, MR Lombari, A Magnelli, L Marchione, DM Molina Meli, M Napoleone, R Nardi, G Olivieri, M Passali, R Rosati, RA Sacco, A Santilli, MR Sisto, ML Zaino. We thank the children and parents who participated, for their precious help.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Feo et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
PY - 2014/9/24
Y1 - 2014/9/24
N2 - Background: In 2009, an earthquake devastated the Abruzzo region in Italy. Despite the occurrence of several disasters in this country, no study on mental health of Italian children has ever been conducted in complex emergencies. Objective of the study was to assess the prevalence of psychiatric symptoms among children in the affected area 12 to 17 months after the event.Methods: A community sample of 1839 3-14 years children was identified from the general population assigned to 37 paediatricians of the National Health System, including children living in the earthquake epicentre, the surrounding earthquake zone, and the adjacent non-affected areas. Psychiatric symptoms were assessed with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Youth Self Report (YSR), completed by 452 children aged 11-14 years. The association between symptoms and sociodemographic, health, family, and earthquake-related factors was examined.Results: The prevalence of CBCL-defined cases was 14.9% in the epicentre, 13.0% in the remainder earthquake zone, 13.9% in the unaffected area (p =876). No differences among areas were found when comparing the YSR results. Prevalence of CBCL-defined post-traumatic stress (PTS) cases was 8.4% in the epicentre, 4.0% in the remainder earthquake zone, 2.2% in the unaffected area (p =002). PTS and anxiety were significantly more frequent in the epicentre than in other areas only in the 6-10 year-old children group (respectively p =009 and p =014). In multivariate logistic analyses, factors associated with PTS were living in the epicentre (OR = 3.6) and child or maternal history of mental health care prior to the earthquake (respectively OR = 7.1 and OR = 4.5).Conclusions: Children living in the epicentre, particularly those 6-10 years old, had the highest prevalence of CBCL-defined cases, and of PTS and anxiety symptoms one year after the earthquake. No signs of increased psychopathology were detected in younger (3-5 years) or older children (11-14 years). Family and health related factors showed stronger association with psychiatric outcomes than earthquake-related factors. The identification of populations at higher risk of developing psychiatric symptoms has implications for public health interventions in complex emergencies.
AB - Background: In 2009, an earthquake devastated the Abruzzo region in Italy. Despite the occurrence of several disasters in this country, no study on mental health of Italian children has ever been conducted in complex emergencies. Objective of the study was to assess the prevalence of psychiatric symptoms among children in the affected area 12 to 17 months after the event.Methods: A community sample of 1839 3-14 years children was identified from the general population assigned to 37 paediatricians of the National Health System, including children living in the earthquake epicentre, the surrounding earthquake zone, and the adjacent non-affected areas. Psychiatric symptoms were assessed with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Youth Self Report (YSR), completed by 452 children aged 11-14 years. The association between symptoms and sociodemographic, health, family, and earthquake-related factors was examined.Results: The prevalence of CBCL-defined cases was 14.9% in the epicentre, 13.0% in the remainder earthquake zone, 13.9% in the unaffected area (p =876). No differences among areas were found when comparing the YSR results. Prevalence of CBCL-defined post-traumatic stress (PTS) cases was 8.4% in the epicentre, 4.0% in the remainder earthquake zone, 2.2% in the unaffected area (p =002). PTS and anxiety were significantly more frequent in the epicentre than in other areas only in the 6-10 year-old children group (respectively p =009 and p =014). In multivariate logistic analyses, factors associated with PTS were living in the epicentre (OR = 3.6) and child or maternal history of mental health care prior to the earthquake (respectively OR = 7.1 and OR = 4.5).Conclusions: Children living in the epicentre, particularly those 6-10 years old, had the highest prevalence of CBCL-defined cases, and of PTS and anxiety symptoms one year after the earthquake. No signs of increased psychopathology were detected in younger (3-5 years) or older children (11-14 years). Family and health related factors showed stronger association with psychiatric outcomes than earthquake-related factors. The identification of populations at higher risk of developing psychiatric symptoms has implications for public health interventions in complex emergencies.
KW - Abruzzo
KW - CBCL
KW - Child and adolescent
KW - Mental health
KW - Post traumatic stress disorder
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U2 - 10.1186/s12888-014-0270-3
DO - 10.1186/s12888-014-0270-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 25248437
AN - SCOPUS:84907264987
SN - 1471-244X
VL - 14
JO - BMC psychiatry
JF - BMC psychiatry
IS - 1
M1 - 270
ER -