Changes in Psychiatric Emergency Room Visits Following the Boston Marathon Bombing

This study reviews patient encounters at a Boston-area community hospital Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES) following the Boston Marathon bombings, with the goal of describing the impact of terrorist attacks on PES encounters.

All PES encounters for 2 months preceding and 2 months following the bombing were identified in the electronic medical record. Demographics, current and past psychiatric problems, and trauma history were assessed for all records. Encounters seen post-bombing were compared with those before the bombing.

Demographics, current and past psychiatric problems, and trauma history were not significantly different before versus after the bombing; 36 of 440 (8.2%) post-bombing encounters directly mentioned the bombings. New-onset posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms caused by the bombing occurred in only 4 encounters (0.9%).

PES encounters after a terrorist event are likely to mirror those seen before a terrorist event, with only a minority of encounters presenting for new PTSD or acute stress disorder.