Post-traumatic stress disorder in patients with acute burn injury.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To determine the risk of PTSD in patients with acute burn incidents. METHOD: This was an observational prospective cross-sectional study conducted in admitted patients in Burns Ward of Civil Hospital, Karachi during a period of 6 months from January 1 to June 30, 2011. Data was collected through questionnaire having socio demographic variables and the Impact of Event-Scale (IES-R) was used to determine the risk of PTSD. RESULTS: Out of 145 patients, 12 (77.3%) were at risk of PTSD with 75 (66.9%) males and 37 (33%) females. Out of these 112 cases, 50% belonged to age group 16-29 years. All burn patients with more than 60% total body surface area (TBSA) involved in injury were at risk. CONCLUSION: The study reports an astronomic number of burns patients with PTSD risk. PTSD drastically affects the quality of life. The earlier this disorder is diagnosed and assessed; better chances are there for enhanced treatment and better recovery.