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A cohort study of the long‐term impact of a fire disaster on the physical and mental health of adolescents
Author(s) -
Dorn Tina,
Yzermans Joris C.,
Spreeuwenberg Peter M. M.,
Schilder Agatha,
Zee Jouke van der
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of traumatic stress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.259
H-Index - 134
eISSN - 1573-6598
pISSN - 0894-9867
DOI - 10.1002/jts.20328
Subject(s) - mental health , cohort , physical health , cohort study , medicine , medical record , occupational safety and health , psychiatry , gerontology , psychology , pathology , radiology
Abstract The literature on adult trauma survivors demonstrates that those exposed to traumatic stress have a poorer physical health status than nonexposed individuals. Studies on physical health effects in adolescent trauma survivors, in contrast, are scarce. In the current study, it was hypothesized that adolescents who have been involved in a mass burn incident ( N = 124) will demonstrate more physical and mental health problems than an unaffected cohort from the same community ( N = 1,487). Health data were extracted from electronic medical records, covering 1‐year prefire and 4‐years postfire. When compared to the prefire baseline, survivors showed significantly larger increases in mental, respiratory, and musculoskeletal problems than community controls during the first year after the fire, but not during the later years.