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Post-traumatic stress disorder, coping strategies and type 2 diabetes: psychometric assessment after L’Aquila earthquake

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Abstract

Aim

After natural and collective catastrophes, many behavioral phenomena can occur through psychobiological responses that involve also the diabetic condition.The aim of this study was to investigate post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and coping strategies in type 2 diabetic patients after L’Aquila earthquake, with a particular attention to the newly diagnosed patients and to the gender differences.

Methods

Among the local diabetic population, we recruited 100 diabetic patients (46 women and 54 men). Sixty of these had diabetes before the earthquake (pre-quake patients), and other 40 received diabetes diagnosis after the earthquake (post-quake patients). A psychometric protocol composed by Davidson Trauma Scale for PTSD and Brief-COPE for coping strategies was administered.

Results

We found significant differences in the levels of PTSD when comparing both post-quake with pre-quake patients (post-quake = 51.72 ± 26.05 vs. pre-quake = 31.65 ± 22.59; p < 0.05) and the female patients with males (women = 53.50 ± 27.01 vs. men = 31.65 ± 23.06; p < 0.05) and also in the prevalence [post-quake = 27/40 (67.5 %) vs. pre-quake = 20/60 (33.3 %); p < 0.05], [women = 27/46 (58.69 %) vs. men = 16/54 (29.62 %); p < 0.05]. Moreover, maladaptive coping was a predictive factor for PTSD in the post-quake group only (OR 1.682; 95 % CI 1.155–2.450; p = 0.006).

Conclusions

Our results revealed that PTSD may be considered an important comorbidity factor in newly diagnosed patients and in diabetic women. Hence, a psychological support seems particularly important in these patients after a collective traumatic event to help them react to both PTSD and diabetes and to help them improve their coping skills.

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Acknowledgments

Authors receive the fund from Italian Ministry of University (MIUR-PRIN and FIRB Grants).

Conflict of interest

Professor Jannini is speaker and consultant of Janseen, Bayer, Lilly, Pfizer and Menarini. Giacomo Ciocca, Eleonora Carosa, Maria Stornelli, Erika Limoncin, Giovanni L. Gravina, Rossella Iannarelli, Alessandra Sperandio, Stefania Di Sante, Andrea Lenzi and Davide Lauro declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Human and animal rights disclosure

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008 (5).

Informed consent disclosure

Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy

    Giacomo Ciocca, Eleonora Carosa, Maria Stornelli, Erika Limoncin & Giovanni L. Gravina

  2. Unit of Diabetology and Metabolic Diseases, San Salvatore Hospital, L’Aquila, Italy

    Rossella Iannarelli & Alessandra Sperandio

  3. Department of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Stefania Di Sante & Andrea Lenzi

  4. Department of Systems Medicine, Tor Vergata University of Rome, Via Montpellier 1, 00131, Rome, Italy

    Davide Lauro & Emmanuele A. Jannini

Authors
  1. Giacomo Ciocca
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  2. Eleonora Carosa
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  3. Maria Stornelli
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  4. Erika Limoncin
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  11. Emmanuele A. Jannini
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Correspondence to Emmanuele A. Jannini.

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Ciocca, G., Carosa, E., Stornelli, M. et al. Post-traumatic stress disorder, coping strategies and type 2 diabetes: psychometric assessment after L’Aquila earthquake. Acta Diabetol 52, 513–521 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00592-014-0686-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00592-014-0686-8

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