Psychological Morbidity in Children 18 months after Kashmir Earthquake of 2005

• Published in: Child psychiatry and human development 2012-06, Vol.43 (3), p.323-336
• Main Authors: Ayub, Muhammad, Poongan, Ishwari, Masood, Khadija, Gul, Huma, Ali, Mahwish, Farrukh, Ammara, Shaheen, Aisha, Chaudhry, Haroon Rasheed, Naeem, Farooq
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Age Factors; Anxiety Disorders; Anxiety disorders. Neuroses; Behavior Problems; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child & adolescent psychiatry; Child and School Psychology; Child development; Children; Coping; Data Analysis; Disabilities; Disasters - statistics & numerical data; Earthquakes; Earthquakes - statistics & numerical data; Emotional Problems; Family (Sociological Unit); Female; Females; Foreign Countries; Gender Differences; Hospitals; Humans; Hyperactivity; Individual Characteristics; Linear Models; Male; Medical sciences; Mental Disorders; Miscellaneous; Morbidity; Natural Disasters; Original Article; Pakistan; Pakistan - epidemiology; Post traumatic stress disorder; Posttraumatic Stress Disorder; Preschool children; Psychiatric morbidity; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Psychiatry; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Research and Development; Separation Anxiety; Sex Factors; Social Environment; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - diagnosis; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - epidemiology; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - psychology; Suffering; Surveys and Questionnaires; Symptoms; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Trauma; Withdrawal (Psychology)
• ISSN: 0009-398X; 1573-3327
• DOI: 10.1007/s10578-011-0267-9

A severe earthquake occurred in Kashmir in 2005. The epicentre was close to Muzzafarabad. We collected data on over 1,100 children 18 months after the earthquake to look at symptoms of PTSD and behavioural and emotional problems using well established questionnaires. We found that 64.8% of children had significant symptoms of PTSD. Girls were more likely to suffer from these symptoms. The proportion of children suffering from emotional and behaviour difficulties was 34.6%. This percentage was not different from other studies of children from Pakistan within areas which were not affected by the earthquake. The rate of emotional symptoms was higher in girls while hyperactivity was more frequent in boys. This pattern is similar to other studies from across the world.