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What is the course of delayed-onset post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)? For 2 years, Australian investigators prospectively followed 705 patients who were injured mainly in automobile accidents and treated in a level I trauma center (437 with mild traumatic brain injury; original sample, 1084 patients).
Very few patients had PTSD (without the duration requirement) immediately after the accident. PTSD incidence at 3, 12, and 24 months was 8.5%, 9.5%, and 6.8%, respectively. About 37% of patients with PTSD at 12 months had not had PTSD at 3 months; still, only 6% of patients with PTSD at 2 years had not had PTSD at 12 months.
Particularly in the first year, diagnoses fluctuated between no PTSD, subsyndromal PTSD (2 of the 3 required symptom …