Traumatic life events and development of post-traumatic stress disorder among female factory workers in a developing country:

Background:Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may be more prevalent and burdensome in developing countries.Aims:The goals of this study were to (1) determine the prevalence of PTSD, (2) identify types and number of traumas related to screening positive for PTSD and (3) determine other sociodemographic risk factors and health/medical conditions that may be correlated to PTSD among garment-factory workers and a comparable working population in Bangladesh.Method:A survey was administered to a convenient sample of 607 lower socio-economic status (SES) working women in Bangladesh, 310 of who were garment workers. The primary outcome PTSD was measured by the PTSD Checklist. The Life Events Checklist determined the number and type of traumatic events.Results:The prevalence of PTSD was found to be 17.79% – 7.25% in garment workers and 21.55% in the comparison worker group. In multivariate analysis, PTSD was found to be significantly associated with age, income, chronic pain and number of stressful events. Part...