Prevalence and risk factors of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in children and adolescents after the 2012 earthquake affecting the Emilia Romagna Region (Italy).

On May 2012, two major earthquakes hit the Province of Modena (Emilia Romagna Region, Northern Italy): the country suffered 27 deaths and several hundred injured citizen; 15000 local resident were left homeless. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a major debilitating psychological disorder that frequently occurs after natural disasters, including earthquakes, with a prevalence ranging, according to different authors, from 28 to 70%. Many cases will remit within 12 months, however about one-third of cases will have a chronic course. Given the high PTSD rates in children and adolescents, the long term impact on their well-being and the relevant social costs of chronic mental disorders, it is of primary importance to recognize and effectively treat cases as soon as possible and to identify potential individual and social risk and protective factors to be addressed in future effective preventive interventions. An epidemiological cross-sectional study has been set up and is on progress in a randomly selected sample of school children and adolescents (9-14 years) exposed to the earthquake with the aim to assess the PTSD prevalence and to explore potential risk (demographic, parental factors and level of trauma exposure) and protective factors (e.g. social support) associated to PTSD development and persistence. The assessment protocol includes the administration of an exposure questionnaire on objective/subjective experiences during the earthquake, the UCLA PTSD Index for DSM-IV questionnaire, and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Parental symptomatology will be also assessed using the Symptom Checklist-90-R questionnaire, in order to evaluate the influence of parental psychopathology on children conditions. The present research will have important implications for the prevention in Italy of chronic PTSD, for treatment of traumatized children and adolescents, as well as for the development of effective post-trauma interventions.