Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27169987›Full record

SynthesisJournal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines2016

Research Review: Changes in the prevalence and symptom severity of child post-traumatic stress disorder in the year following trauma - a meta-analytic study.

Rachel M Hiller, Richard Meiser-Stedman, Pasco Fearon, Sarah Lobo, Anna McKinnon, Abigail Fraser, Sarah L Halligan

Abstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 84 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
84citing papers in PubMed, 9 pooled it
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

84 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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24 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Rachel M HillerDepartment of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, UK.
Richard Meiser-StedmanDepartment of Clinical Psychology, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
Pasco FearonDepartment of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK.
Sarah LoboDepartment of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, UK.
Anna McKinnonDepartment of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
Abigail FraserMRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
Sarah L HalliganDepartment of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, UK.

Funding

Department of Health CDF-2015-08-073Medical Research Council MC_UU_12013/5Medical Research Council MR/M009351/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundUnderstanding the natural course of child and adolescent posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has significant implications for the identification of, and intervention for, at-risk youth. We used a meta-analytic approach to examine longitudinal changes in youth PTSD prevalence and symptoms over the first 12 months posttrauma.

methodsWe conducted a systematic review to identify longitudinal studies of PTSD in young people (5-18 years old), excluding treatment trials. The search yielded 27 peer-reviewed studies and one unpublished dataset for analysis of pooled prevalence estimates, relative prevalence reduction and standardised mean symptom change. Key moderators were also explored, including age, proportion of boys in the sample, initial prevalence of PTSD and PTSD measurement type.

resultsAnalyses demonstrated moderate declines in PTSD prevalence and symptom severity over the first 3-6 months posttrauma. From 1 to 6 months posttrauma, the prevalence of PTSD reduced by approximately 50%. Symptoms also showed moderate decline, particularly across the first 3 months posttrauma. There was little evidence of further change in prevalence or symptom severity after 6 months, suggesting that it is unlikely a child would lose a PTSD diagnosis without intervention beyond this point.

conclusionsThe current findings provide key information about the likelihood of posttrauma recovery in the absence of intervention and have important implications for our understanding of child and adolescent PTSD. Results are discussed with reference to the timing of PTSD screening and the potential role of early interventions. Findings particularly highlight the importance of future research to develop our understanding of what factors prevent the action of normal recovery from the 'acute' posttrauma period.

Indexed as

Disease ProgressionSeverity of Illness IndexAdolescentChildChild, PreschoolHumansStress Disorders, Post-TraumaticadolescentChildlongitudinalmeta-analysisposttraumatic stresstrauma

Identifiers

PMID27169987
PMCPMC4982080

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.