Prevalence of exposure to lifetime and war-related traumas, PTSD and complex PTSD in a sample from the Ukrainian general population.

Background: PTSD is a common mental health difficulty in war-affected countries. Despite the ongoing nature of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, few previous studies have established rates of trauma exposure, PTSD, and CPTSD in representative population samples from across the country.Objective: To explore both lifetime and war-related trauma experiences since the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, to estimate the prevalence of ICD-11 PTSD and CPTSD in a representative general adult sample of Ukrainian civilians, and to examine associations of PTSD and CPTSD with sociodemographic and trauma characteristics.Method: A large telephone survey of a randomized sample of adult residents in regions controlled by the Government of Ukraine (N = 2,504) was conducted. Trauma exposure, war stressors, and ICD-11 PTSD/CPTSD were assessed. Associations between type and number of lifetime and war trauma exposures and PTSD/CPTSD were examined using a series of logistic regression models, adjusted for age and gender.Results: High levels of both lifetime and war-related traumas were reported. The national prevalence of ICD-11 PTSD was 25.2%, with 6% meeting further criteria for ICD-11 CPTSD, making a combined prevalence of 31.2%. Factors associated with combined PTSD/CPTSD status (compared to no diagnoses) included: female gender (aOR = 1.85, 95% CI 1.23-2.86), age in years (aOR = 1.01, 95% CI 1.01-1.02), past military service (aOR = 1.79, 95% CI 1.32-2.43), greater exposure to cumulative lifetime traumatic events (aOR = 1.16, 95% CI 1.11-1.21) and war stressors (aOR = 1.21, 95% CI 1.18-1.25).Conclusions: Our estimates confirm that PTSD is a common difficulty among Ukrainian civilians exposed to an active and ongoing war. Lower rates of CPTSD found in our investigation compared to other population estimates may be reflective of the differing ways traumatic stress may manifest in the context of continuous trauma in war zones.