Abstract

OBJECTIVES
This study was conducted in order to evaluate the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and related factors in male firefighters in Daegu, Korea.
METHODS
A total of 1,261 firefighters from fire stations in Daegu were the subjects of this study. Each firefighter completed a questionnaire on general and occupational matters, experience of traumatic events, and impact of event scale (IES). The IES questionnaire was administered to subjects in order to determine the high risk group for PTSD. We calculated the IES score and determined that an individual was abnormal if the IES score was over 26.
RESULTS
The average IES score of the firefighters was 11.0+/-14.3, and the prevalence of high risk firefighters with PTSD was 15.1%. It was found that 40 years of age, fire sergeant, and emergency medical service personnel showed higher prevalence of PTSD than other groups. The most experienced event among traumatic events was 'witness death of victims or patients'. The results of multiple logistic regression analysis for the high risk PTSD group showed that fire sergeant (OR=2.28, 95% CI: 1.28~4.06), fire lieutenant (OR=2.47, 95% CI: 1.14~5.37), fire captain (OR=2.88, 95% CI: 1.11~7.45), firefighting department (OR=2.04, 95% CI: 1.00~4.17), emergency medical service personnel (OR=3.68, 95% CI: 1.47~9.23), total frequency of traumatic events experienced (OR=1.01, 95% CI: 1.00~1.02), and total type of traumatic event experienced (OR=1.35, 95% CI: 1.25~1.46) were significant variables with regards to the reference group (fire fighter and administration department).
CONCLUSIONS
These findings indicate that the prevalence of PTSD in firefighters is higher than that in the general population, and fire sergeant, fire lieutenant, fire captain, emergency medical service personnel, firefighting department, total frequency of traumatic events experienced, and total type of traumatic event experienced were significant variables for the PTSD high risk group.

• Keywords: Posttraumatic stress disorder;Firefighters;Traumatic event;Cutoff