Trauma exposure and ptsd in portugal: Findings from the world mental health survey initiative

Abstract

Although trauma is common worldwide, the relative importance of different types of events in the development of PTSD varies across countries. This study evaluated the exposure to traumatic events, the conditional risk of PTSD, and the sociodemographic factors associated with traumatic events, lifetime and 12-month prevalence of PTSD in Portugal. Data from the World Mental Health Survey Initiative Portugal were used. The worst traumatic event reported by each participant was used to generate estimates of PTSD associated with each event. Conditional risk of PTSD was evaluated in relation to each class and type of traumatic event. Logistic regression models evaluated the association between sociodemographic factors and exposure to traumatic events, lifetime and 12-month PTSD. Most participants were exposed to traumatic events. Sexual violence presented the highest conditional risk of PTSD. Women were less likely to report any lifetime traumatic event. However, after adjusting for type of trauma, women were 2.7 times more likely to experience lifetime PTSD than men. This study may contribute to the design of interventions aiming to reduce the societal burden of PTSD in Portugal, drawing attention to the need to recognize sexual violence and gender inequalities as public health priorities in the country.

Keywords: Epidemiology; Gender; Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); Sexual violence; Trauma.