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Hindi Research Article, J Trauma Stress Disor Treat Vol: 5 Issue: 1
Diagnostic Accuracy and Operating Characteristics of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Checklist in the Postearthquake Population in Armenia
| Ani Movsisyan1*, Anahit Demirchyan1, Vahe Khachadourian2, Haroutune K Armenian2, Marie Diener-West3 and Armen Goenjian4 | |
| 1School of Public Health, American University of Armenia (AUA), Armenia | |
| 2Department of Epidemiology, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), USA | |
| 3Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA | |
| 4Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA/Duke University National Centre for Child Traumatic Stress, USA | |
| Corresponding author : Ani Movsisyan School of Public Health, American University of Armenia (AUA), 40 Marshal Baghramian Avenue, Yerevan 0019, Armenia Tel: (+374 10) 32 40 40; Fax: (+374 60) 61 25 12 E- mail: ani_movsisyan13@alumni.aua.am |
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| Received: December 16, 2015 Accepted: February 16, 2016 Published: February 29, 2016 | |
| Citation: Movsisyan A, Demirchyan A, Khachadourian V, Armenian HK, Diener-West M, et al. (2016) Diagnostic Accuracy and Operating Characteristics of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Checklist in the Post-earthquake Population in Armenia. J Trauma Stress Disor Treat 5:1. doi:10.4172/2324-8947.1000154 |
Abstract
Diagnostic Accuracy and Operating Characteristics of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Checklist in the Postearthquake Population in Armenia
The objective of this study was to determine the diagnostic accuracy and the operating characteristics of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist Civilian (PCL-C) in the post-earthquake population of Armenia. A community sample of 126 participants witnessing the 1988 Spitak earthquake were administered the Armenian-language version PCL-C and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV disorders (SCID). Receiver operating characteristics curve (ROC) analysis was used to estimate the diagnostic accuracy of the instrument. PCL-C exhibited overall high diagnostic accuracy in the study population (area under the ROC curve was calculated as 0.903, SE=0.026). The cut score of 50 was identified as the most optimal and the most efficient based on the Youden index with equal values placed on sensitivity (0.94; 95% CI=0.80–0.99) and specificity (0.81; 95% CI=0.71–0.88), and a base rate of 26.2%. However, the higher cut score of 54 yielded the prevalence estimate equivalent to the base rate. The study results render the Armenian-language version PCL-C as an accurate and valid instrument to screen for PTSD symptoms in the post-earthquake population. This paper highlights the need for future investigators to study the PCL-C operating characteristics in broader population subgroups in Armenia.
