Traumatic stress symptoms in adolescent organ transplant recipients.

Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, December, 2005 by Mintzer, Lisa Libman; Stuber, Margaret L.; Seacord, Debra; Castaneda, Marleen; Mesrkhani, Violet; Glover, Dorie

Objective: Symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after life-threatening medical illness have been found to predict poor outcome in preliminary studies of adults and children. However, these symptoms are rarely recognized in general medical or pediatric settings. Here we report on the first large investigation to assess prevalence and correlates of self-reported symptoms of posttraumatic stress in a nonreferred sample of adolescent liver, heart, and kidney transplant recipients.

Methods: One hundred four adolescents, ages 12 to 20 years (mean: 15.7; SD: 2.1), completed ...