Prevalence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Primary School Children in Baghdad -Iraq

The present situation in Iraq is dominated by violence, looting, kidnapping, torture and murder. This had created an extremely threatening and traumatizing atmosphere for the whole population and especially children. Objectives: To determine PTSD prevalence among primary school children in Baghdad. Method and sampling: A cross sectional multi stages sample survey of 600 respondents aged 6-15 years had been contacted in Baghdad during Jan. and Feb.2006, sixteen schools were involved. 37-38 children represented each school. Tool: Arabic version of MINI (international neuropsychiatric interview PTSD module 1 was applied. Results: During the last two years 47% of the respondents had experienced major traumatic events. The prevalence of PTSD among school children was 14%. The malefemale ratio was 13 which was statistically significant. Conclusion : The traumatizing events were very common and had precipitated PTSD in 14% of children .The prevalence was less than expected which may suggest that Iraqis had adapted some sort of psychological immunization through the last 3 successive stressful and traumatizing decades . The study warrants exceptional efforts to re-stabilize the situation in order to avoid wide spread of morbidity and disability among children.