Post-traumatic stress disorder in pre-school aged children after a gas explosion

To evaluate the sensitivity of diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in pre-school aged children involved in a gas explosion, post-traumatic symptoms of the children were investigated four times after the accident, immediately, 10 days, 6 months, and 1 year later. Using symptoms at 6 months after the accident, sensitivity of diagnostic criteria was assessed by comparing the fourth edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), and the alternative criteria for infants and young children [10]. In addition, the published Child Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Reaction Index (CPTSD-RI) and its modified version proposed by us were also evaluated their sensitivity to rate the symptoms. Girls had a tendency to show more post-traumatic symptoms than boys. Although no children met DMS-IV criteria for PTSD, 8 children out of 32 were diagnosed as having PTSD with alternative criteria. With our modified CPTSD-RI, all eight children were decidedly more statistically distinguishable from those without PTSD than with original index.

our data indicate that the sensitivity of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th edition) and the Child Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Reaction Index in rating symptoms of pre-school aged children is not sufficient. The alternative criteria of the former and modified version of the latter would be the better choice in this age group.