Posttraumatic stress and tendency to panic in the aftermath of the chlorine gas disaster in Graniteville, South Carolina

Abstract

Purpose Relatively little is known about psychological effects of environmental hazard disasters. This study examines the development of posttraumatic stress (PTS) and tendency to limited panic attack after a large chlorine spill in a community. Methods In January 2005, a large chlorine spill occurred in Graniteville, SC. Acute injuries were quantified on an ordinal severity scale. Eight to ten months later, participating victims completed the Short Screening Scale for PTSD (n = 225) and the Holden Psychological Screening Inventory (HPSI) (n = 193) as part of a public health intervention. Forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) and forced vital capacity were likewise measured via spirometry. Two sets of univariate logistic regression models were fit to detect independent effects of each potential covariate and risk factor on PTS score and tendency to panic. A supplemental analysis examined whether poor lung function may be a confounder and/or effect modifier of the effect of acute injury on PTS score and panic. Results Of those who completed psychological screening, 36.9% exhibited PTS symptoms. FEV1, acute injury, and the HPSI psychiatric subscale were independently associated with increased PTS score. Acute injury severity scale and female sex were associated with tendency to panic. Immediate acute injury severity and poor lung function later were independently associated with PTS symptomotology. Conclusions The high prevalence of PTS and endorsement of tendency to panic within our sample show a need for mental health treatment after a chemical hazard disaster. Mental health personnel should be considerate of those with serious physical injuries.

Gleaning data from disaster: A hospital-based data mining method to study all-hazard triage after a chemical disaster

“…Further details on the medical record abstraction process are found elsewhere. 8 Likewise, health screenings were comparable to the rigorous data quality obtained from similar research-based studies 44 . All data from both self-report and abstracted hospital/doctor reported sources were duplicately entered and reviewed for quality assurance prior to being issued as the official study datasets.…”

“…Yet nine people died, 72 were hospitalized in nine regional hospitals, 840 were treated as outpatients, and 220 experienced immediate health problems, but did not receive any immediate medical care. 44 Others experienced health problems only associated with the psychological trauma of the disaster. We know of 1,384 victims of this event.…”

Prediction of Unmet Primary Care Needs for the Medically Vulnerable Post-Disaster: An Interrupted Time-Series Analysis of Health System Responses

“…Note the immediate increase in FQHC attendance for April and May 2005 (Figure 3). In June a health registry [37] was initiated and health screenings were made available to registrants within 1 mile [38] in late August for 10 consecutive weeks. Each screened community member was provided a local community resource flier that included information on the area FQHC and if necessary, screened registrants were referred for follow-up medical or mental health care.…”

A Validation Study of 5 Triage Systems Using Data From the 2005 Graniteville, South Carolina, Chlorine Spill

“…16,20,23,25 After these linked data were de-identified and data use agreements were approved by all parties, the data were provided to the research team by the SC ORS for use in this study. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Boards of the University of South Carolina and the SC DHEC prior to initiation.…”