New Orleans PTSD Rate Ten Times That Of General Public

In a paper presented May 18 at the 2007 Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) Annual Meeting, held in Chicago, IL, Professor Lisa D. Mills, MD, Director, Section of Emergency Medicine Ultrasound, Louisiana State University at New Orleans, showed that 38 percent of Hurricane Katrina survivors treated at an interim emergency facility were diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a rate of more than 10 times the 3.6 percent prevalence in the general population of the United States. The patients sampled were treated after Hurricane Katrina and flooding struck the city. Merely staying in New Orleans during the storm was found to be a sufficient reason to develop PTSD.

According to Dr. Peter DeBlieux, MD, Director of Emergency Services at Lousiana State University, "The prevalence cited in this study is not alarming to those professionals caring for patients who have been traumatized by the storm and challenged by the recovery efforts." However, it does point out the need for ongoing mental health services to be available to the New Orleans population.

ABSTRACT: Prevalence of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Following Hurricane Katrina