Occurrence and characteristics of post traumatic stress disorder in miners after a coal mine disaster

Objective To examine the occurrence and characteristics of post traumatic stress disorder(PTSD)symptoms in rescued miners after Hegang coalmine disaster.Methods Totally 200 rescued miners were assessed using questionnaire of basic information and the PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version(PCL-C).Results The incidence of positive PTSD symptoms in the rescued miners was 19.64%.Scores of PCL-C increased with the increment of age for intrusion factor(F=3.77, P=0.025) and the total score(F=3.06, P=0.049).The miners with longer working years had higher scores of intrusion factor(t=3.67, P=0.000), avoid factor(t=3.23, P=0.001), alert factor(t=2.78, P=0.003) and total score(t=3.41, P=0.000);the miners near the incident site at the time of the disaster occurrence had higher PCL-C scores of intrusion factor(F=4.92, P=0.008), avoid factor(F=7.37, P=0.001), alert factor(F=7.13, P=0.001)and total score(F=7.11, P=0.001).The miners witnessing the death or injury had more obvious PTSD symptoms than the miners not witnessing the casualties, with higher scores of intrusion factor(t=2.28, P=0.012), avoid factor(t=1.69, P=0.047), alert factor(t=2.38, P=0.009) and total score(t=2.19, P=0.015).Conclusion The incidence of positive PTSD symptoms in the rescued miners was 19.64% after Hegang coalmine disasters and the incidence was influenced by age, working years in the coal mine, distance from the incident site at the time of the disaster, and witness of casualties in the rescured miners.