Acute stress disorder and major depressive disorder in flood victims from Tingo Maria: prevlence and the effect of relocating

Abstract

Objectives. To determine the prevalence of acute stress disorder (ASD) and comorbidity with major depressive disorder (ASD+MDD) in flood victims from Tingo María, Huánuco (Peruvian central jungle), 20 days after the traumatic event. Material and methods: One hundred and twenty injured (people relocated after disaster) and 110 affected (people living in their own homes) were surveyed and compared. Was applied to structured clinical interview for disorders axis I from DSM-IV, clinical version. The prevalence of the disorders studied were stratified by age, being a woman, having a partner at the time of occurrence of the disaster, unemployed time of the disaster, not to speak Spanish and have low levels of education. The data were analyzed in STATA v.8.0. Results. The 64.8% (95CI: 58.6-71.0) of the study population had ASD and the 28.3% (95CI: 22.4-34-1) had ASD+MMD. The people injured showed higher prevalence of ASD, 80%, compared with 48.2% for those affected (P<0.001). In the case of ASD+MMD prevalences were 40.0% and 15.5%, respectively (P<0.001). Women are more likely to develop ASD (OR: 4.3; 95CI: 1.6-11.2) and ASD+DDM (OR: 8.7; 95CI: 1.9-40.9) adjusted of other factors. Conclusions. There are significant differences between the prevalence of mental disorders of the people living in a shelter or in their own homes; being higher in those who are forced to live in temporary shelters. Women are more susceptible to these mental disorders.