WAR ON TERROR – THE YOUNG SUFFERERS

Abstract

Objective: To estimate the frequency of PTSD in high school children of Bannu cantonment.
Design: Cross sectional study.
Place and Duration of Study: This study was carried out at Bannu cantonment in Sep 2009.
Patients and Methods: Every third student from class 6 to 10, with a definite history of exposure to psychological
trauma, was selected from the only two high schools situated within Bannu cantonment. All students were
interviewed in their schools after obtaining informed written consent. They were required to answer the 20 questions in Childhood post traumatic stress reaction index questionnaire (CPTSRI). It was administered in Urdu, with answers rated on a scale from 0 to 4. The scores were totaled to determine the severity of PTSD: 0-12: no PTSD, 13-24: mild PTSD, 25-39: moderate PTSD, 40-59: severe PTSD, 60 and above: very severe PTSD. Data was analyzed with PASW Statistics 18. For this purpose, students were divided into two groups: Group 1 containing students aged 11 to 13 years, and Group 2 comprising of students aged 14 to 16 years. Results were also compared between the two genders.
Results: There were 101 students, including 70 boys and 31 girls, with a mean age of 13.16 ± 1.39 years. PTSD was present in 62 (61.39%) of them including 41 males and 21 females (p: 0.388). Forty (60.61%) students from group 1 and 22 (62.86%) students from group 2 had evidence of PTSD (p: 0.827). Mean (CPTSRI) score was 22.73 ± 13.42, being 21.43 ± 13.03 for boys and 25.68 ± 14.04 for girls was (p: 0.143).
Conclusion: PTSD is very common in both male and female students from Bannu. This necessitates the implementation of screening programmes and appropriate treatment