One-year prospective follow-up of motor vehicle accident victims

Behav Res Ther. 1996 Oct;34(10):775-86. doi: 10.1016/0005-7967(96)00038-1.

Abstract

One-hundred and thirty-two victims of motor vehicle accidents (MVAs), who sought medical attention as a result of the MVA, were assessed at three points in time: 1-4 months post-MVA, 6 months later, and 12 months later. Of the 48 who met the full criteria for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) initially, half had remitted at least in part by the 6-month follow-up point and two-thirds had remitted by the 1-yr follow-up. Using logistic regression, 3 variables combined to correctly identify 79% of remitters and non-remitters at the 12-month follow-up point: initial scores on the irritability and foreshortened future symptoms of PTSD and the initial degree of vulnerability the subject felt in a motor vehicle after the MVA. Four variables combined to predict 64% of the variance in the degree of post-traumatic stress symptoms at 12 months: presence of alcohol abuse and/or an Axis-II disorder at the time of the initial assessment as well as the total scores on the hyperarousal and on avoidance symptoms of PTSD present at the initial post-MVA assessment.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Accidents, Traffic / psychology*
  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Analysis of Variance
  • Female
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Humans
  • Logistic Models
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Multivariate Analysis
  • Odds Ratio
  • Prognosis
  • Prospective Studies
  • Risk Factors
  • Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / diagnosis
  • Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / epidemiology*
  • Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / etiology*