New PTSD Test Successfully Predicts Who Will Develop Condition

Newswise — DANVILLE, Pa. – A new post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) prediction tool, developed by Geisinger Health System researchers, is simple to administer and appears to outperform other screening methods, according to new findings published electronically in the August issue of the journal General Hospital Psychiatry.

After collecting information from more than 2,300 adults following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, Joseph Boscarino, Ph.D., MPH, senior investigator II, Geisinger Health System, and his co-investigators, including Charles Figley, Ph.D., Tulane University, examined the clinical factors that could predict PTSD. These included stressor exposures, psychosocial resources, functional status, depression symptoms, suicidal thoughts, PTSD symptoms and demographics. This was done to identify the best PTSD prediction models.

From these analyses, the team developed a simple 10-item prediction tool, the New York PTSD Risk Score, which included core PTSD symptoms, depression symptoms, healthcare status, sleep disturbance and trauma history. Findings show the tool is highly successful in predicting PTSD following traumatic exposures in different clinical populations, including a sample of chronic pain outpatients and a sample of Level I trauma patients discharged from Geisinger Clinic.

New PTSD Test Successfully Predicts Who Will Develop Condition