Police officers who responded to 9/11: Comorbidity of PTSD, depression, and anxiety 10–11 years later. Issue 6 (20th April 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bowler, Rosemarie M.; Kornblith, Erica S.; Li, Jiehui; Adams, Shane W.; Gocheva, Vihra V.; Schwarzer, Ralf; Cone, James E.
• Is Part Of: American journal of industrial medicine. Volume 59:Issue 6(2016)
• Page Start: 425
• Page End: 436
• Publication Date: 2016-04-20
• Subjects: posttraumatic stress disorder -- 9/11 -- police -- comorbidity -- risk factor; Medicine, Industrial -- Periodicals; Médecine du travail -- Périodiques; 616.9803
• DOI: 10.1002/ajim.22588
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0271-3586

Abstract

Abstract : Background: After the 9/11/2001 World Trade Center (WTC) attack, many police‐responders developed PTSD and might be vulnerable to develop depression and/or anxiety. Comorbidity of PTSD, depression, and/or anxiety is examined. Method: Police enrollees (N = 1, 884) from the WTC Health Registry were categorized into four groups based on comorbidity of PTSD, depression, and anxiety. DSM‐IV diagnostic criteria for PTSD were used. Depression (PHQ‐8) and anxiety (GAD‐7) were assessed with standardized psychometric inventories. Multinomial logistic regression was used to identify putative risk factors associated with comorbidity of PTSD. Results: Of 243 (12.9% of total) police with probable PTSD, 21.8% had probable PTSD without comorbidity, 24.7% had depression, 5.8% had anxiety, and 47.7% had comorbid depression and anxiety. Risk factors for comorbid PTSD, depression, and anxiety include being Hispanic, decrease in income, experiencing physical injury on 9/11, experiencing stressful/traumatic events since 9/11, and being unemployed/retired. Conclusion: Nearly half of police with probable PTSD had comorbid depression and anxiety. Am. J. Ind. Med. 59:425–436, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.