Post-traumatic stress disorder in patients with acute burn injury.

OBJECTIVE To determine the risk of PTSD in patients with acute burn incidents. METHOD This was an observational prospective cross-sectional study conducted in admitted patients in Burns Ward of Civil Hospital, Karachi during a period of 6 months from January 1 to June 30, 2011. Data was collected through questionnaire having socio demographic variables and the Impact of Event-Scale (IES-R) was used to determine the risk of PTSD. RESULTS Out of 145 patients, 12 (77.3%) were at risk of PTSD with 75 (66.9%) males and 37 (33%) females. Out of these 112 cases, 50% belonged to age group 16-29 years. All burn patients with more than 60% total body surface area (TBSA) involved in injury were at risk. CONCLUSION The study reports an astronomic number of burns patients with PTSD risk. PTSD drastically affects the quality of life. The earlier this disorder is diagnosed and assessed; better chances are there for enhanced treatment and better recovery.