Performance characteristics of the PTSD Checklist in retired firefighters exposed to the World Trade Center disaster.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Chiu, Sophia ; Gustave J ; Kelly KJ ; Lee R ; McWilliams R ; North CS ; Prezant DJ ; Rizzotto L ; Schorr JK ; Webber MP ; Zeig-Owens R ; Chiu, Sophia ; Gustave J ; Kelly KJ ; Lee R ; McWilliams R ; North CS ; Prezant DJ ; Rizzotto L ; Schorr JK ; Webber MP ; Zeig-Owens R
• Description:
  BACKGROUND: Since the World Trade Center (WTC) attacks on September 11, 2001, the Fire Department, City of New York Monitoring Program has provided physical and mental health screening services to rescue/recovery workers. This study evaluated performance of the self-report PTSD Checklist (PCL) as a screening tool for risk of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in firefighters who worked at Ground Zero, compared with the interviewer-administered Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS). METHODS: From December 2005 to July 2007, all retired firefighter enrollees completed the PCL and DIS on the same day. Sensitivity, specificity, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, and Youden index (J) were used to assess properties of the PCL and to identify an optimum cutoff score. RESULTS: Six percent of 1,915 retired male firefighters were diagnosed with PTSD using the DIS to assess DSM-IV criteria. Depending on the PCL cutoff, the prevalence of elevated risk relative to DSM-IV criteria varied from 16% to 22%. Youden index identified an optimal cutoff score of 39, in contrast with the frequently recommended cutoff of 44. At 39, PCL sensitivity was 0.85, specificity was 0.82, and the area under the ROC curve was 0.91 relative to DIS PTSD diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to validate the PCL in retired firefighters and determine the optimal cutoff score to maximize opportunities for PTSD diagnosis and treatment. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Emergency Responders Firefighters Mental Health Occupational Health Safety Stress, Psychological Workplace
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Disasters; September 11 Terrorist Attacks; PTSD Checklist; Posttraumatic Stress Disorder; Firefighters Emergency-responders; Fire-fighters; Physical-reactions; Physical-stress; Psychological-effects; Psychological-reactions; Psychological-responses; Psychological-stress; Rescue-workers; Statistical-analysis; Stress; Work-areas; Work-environment; Worker-health; Work-performance; Workplace-studies;
• ISSN:
  1040-1237
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant ; Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article ; Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; OSHA Region 2
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health ; Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America ; North America
• Pages in Document:
  95-104
• Volume:
  23
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20039535
• Citation:
  Ann Clin Psychiatry 2011 May; 23(2):95-104
• Contact Point Address:
  Mayris P. Webber, DrPH New York City Fire Department, Bureau of Health Services 9 Metrotech Center Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA
• Email:
  webberm@fdny.nyc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2011
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Annals of Clinical Psychiatry
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7dc847c09aedf140bc731323e8446b4703641ae07d6ad9e7b7238120dab30b8f7dcaa9b938d34d035f87873a0fe7fec262d5d13dcaf290925445e82b6de3b57d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/248151/cdc_248151_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 168.02 KB ]