Comparative study of prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder among survivors of Bam earthquake 18 month after the event in bam and Kerman cities

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the most common psychological problems after disasters and due to lack of local studies in this field. This study was conducted to determine the comparison of PTSD, 18 months after this earthquake in Bam and Kerman.
In this cross-sectional study, about 422 people were studied (205 people from Bam and 217 from Kerman) with stratified cluster sampling in three age groups: young adults, adults and elderly. Also, PTSD (Watson) and personal information questionnaires were used for data gathering.
Findings: The accumulative prevalence of PTSD in respondents of Bam and Kerman were 66.7% and 57.1% respectively (p=0.045). The prevalence of moderate to severe PTSD in respondents of Bam and Kerman were about 58.9% and 35.1% respectively (p The results demonstrated that even after one and half years after bam earthquake the PTSD prevalence in Kerman city which located near the bam and had no destruction and mortality like bam is still high, getting chronic form and proper interventions are needed for decreasing this disorder in both cities.