Abstract
Understanding the natural course of child and adolescent posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has significant implications for the identification of, and intervention for, at-risk youth. We used a meta-analytic approach to examine longitudinal changes in youth PTSD prevalence and symptoms over the first 12 months posttrauma.
Methods
We conducted a systematic review to identify longitudinal studies of PTSD in young people (5–18 years old), excluding treatment trials. The search yielded 27 peer-reviewed studies and one unpublished dataset for analysis of pooled prevalence estimates, relative prevalence reduction and standardised mean symptom change. Key moderators were also explored, including age, proportion of boys in the sample, initial prevalence of PTSD and PTSD measurement type.
Results
Analyses demonstrated moderate declines in PTSD prevalence and symptom severity over the first 3–6 months posttrauma. From 1 to 6 months posttrauma, the prevalence of PTSD reduced by approximately 50%. Symptoms also showed moderate decline, particularly across the first 3 months posttrauma. There was little evidence of further change in prevalence or symptom severity after 6 months, suggesting that it is unlikely a child would lose a PTSD diagnosis without intervention beyond this point.
Conclusions
The current findings provide key information about the likelihood of posttrauma recovery in the absence of intervention and have important implications for our understanding of child and adolescent PTSD. Results are discussed with reference to the timing of PTSD screening and the potential role of early interventions. Findings particularly highlight the importance of future research to develop our understanding of what factors prevent the action of normal recovery from the ‘acute’ posttrauma period.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 884-898 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry |
| Volume | 57 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| Early online date | 12 May 2016 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 22 Jul 2016 |
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Keywords
- Child
- Adolescent
- Trauma
- Postraumatic stress
- Meta-anaylsis
- Longitudinal
Cite this
Research Review: Changes in the prevalence and symptom severity of child post-traumatic stress disorder in the year following trauma – a meta-analytic study : a meta-analytic study. / Hiller, Rachel M.; Meiser-Stedman, Richard; Fearon, Pasco; Lobo, Sarah; MacKinnon, Anna; Fraser, Abigail; Halligan, Sarah L.
In: Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Vol. 57, No. 8, 22.07.2016, p. 884-898.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Research Review: Changes in the prevalence and symptom severity of child post-traumatic stress disorder in the year following trauma – a meta-analytic study
T2 - a meta-analytic study
AU - Hiller, Rachel M.
AU - Meiser-Stedman, Richard
AU - Fearon, Pasco
AU - Lobo, Sarah
AU - MacKinnon, Anna
AU - Fraser, Abigail
AU - Halligan, Sarah L.
PY - 2016/7/22
Y1 - 2016/7/22
N2 - ObjectiveUnderstanding the natural course of child and adolescent posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has significant implications for the identification of, and intervention for, at-risk youth. We used a meta-analytic approach to examine longitudinal changes in youth PTSD prevalence and symptoms over the first 12 months posttrauma.MethodsWe conducted a systematic review to identify longitudinal studies of PTSD in young people (5–18 years old), excluding treatment trials. The search yielded 27 peer-reviewed studies and one unpublished dataset for analysis of pooled prevalence estimates, relative prevalence reduction and standardised mean symptom change. Key moderators were also explored, including age, proportion of boys in the sample, initial prevalence of PTSD and PTSD measurement type.ResultsAnalyses demonstrated moderate declines in PTSD prevalence and symptom severity over the first 3–6 months posttrauma. From 1 to 6 months posttrauma, the prevalence of PTSD reduced by approximately 50%. Symptoms also showed moderate decline, particularly across the first 3 months posttrauma. There was little evidence of further change in prevalence or symptom severity after 6 months, suggesting that it is unlikely a child would lose a PTSD diagnosis without intervention beyond this point.ConclusionsThe current findings provide key information about the likelihood of posttrauma recovery in the absence of intervention and have important implications for our understanding of child and adolescent PTSD. Results are discussed with reference to the timing of PTSD screening and the potential role of early interventions. Findings particularly highlight the importance of future research to develop our understanding of what factors prevent the action of normal recovery from the ‘acute’ posttrauma period.
AB - ObjectiveUnderstanding the natural course of child and adolescent posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has significant implications for the identification of, and intervention for, at-risk youth. We used a meta-analytic approach to examine longitudinal changes in youth PTSD prevalence and symptoms over the first 12 months posttrauma.MethodsWe conducted a systematic review to identify longitudinal studies of PTSD in young people (5–18 years old), excluding treatment trials. The search yielded 27 peer-reviewed studies and one unpublished dataset for analysis of pooled prevalence estimates, relative prevalence reduction and standardised mean symptom change. Key moderators were also explored, including age, proportion of boys in the sample, initial prevalence of PTSD and PTSD measurement type.ResultsAnalyses demonstrated moderate declines in PTSD prevalence and symptom severity over the first 3–6 months posttrauma. From 1 to 6 months posttrauma, the prevalence of PTSD reduced by approximately 50%. Symptoms also showed moderate decline, particularly across the first 3 months posttrauma. There was little evidence of further change in prevalence or symptom severity after 6 months, suggesting that it is unlikely a child would lose a PTSD diagnosis without intervention beyond this point.ConclusionsThe current findings provide key information about the likelihood of posttrauma recovery in the absence of intervention and have important implications for our understanding of child and adolescent PTSD. Results are discussed with reference to the timing of PTSD screening and the potential role of early interventions. Findings particularly highlight the importance of future research to develop our understanding of what factors prevent the action of normal recovery from the ‘acute’ posttrauma period.
KW - Child
KW - Adolescent
KW - Trauma
KW - Postraumatic stress
KW - Meta-anaylsis
KW - Longitudinal
U2 - 10.1111/jcpp.12566
DO - 10.1111/jcpp.12566
M3 - Article
VL - 57
SP - 884
EP - 898
JO - Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
JF - Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
SN - 0021-9630
IS - 8
ER -