P-581 - Quality of life after a wildfire disaster in a rural area of Greece

Introduction Although disasters differ widely, they usually have some common psychological and social consequences. Psychological symptoms can range from mild and transient ones, such as altered behaviour or acute distress, to severe such as major depression and suicidality. Studies following those collective traumatic events have shown reduced levels of Quality of Life (QoL) in the affected populations. Objectives To investigate the QoL in individuals who had experienced severe exposure to a wildfire disaster in a part of Greece three years after the disaster. Aims a) to examine the QoL of the victims, b) to compare the quality of life of those affected by the disaster (cases) with the quality of life of those who were not (controls) and c) to examine factors which may have a significant effect on the quality of life (psychological factors, losses, and demographics). Methods A Cross sectional case control study of adult population (18–65 years old). The measured variables were: a) quality of life using the WHOQOL-BREF measure, b) previous psychiatric caseness as identified using the SCL-90-R and c) demographics. Results 364 participants (184 victims and 180 controls).Victims of the wildfires had a statistically significant poorer quality of life in the three domains of physical health, psychological health, and environment compared to controls. After adjusting for other variables, the only difference between victims and controls was in the environment domain. Conclusions Disasters have long lasting effects on victims. Psychological and physical health may improve after some time but environmental quality of life may need longer.