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Table 1 Prevalence of trauma exposure in the South Africa Stress and Health Study (N = 4315)

From: Trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in South Africa: analysis from the South African Stress and Health Study

Event type

Prevalence %

SE

Mean no. of occurrencesa

SE

Proportion of traumas in populationb

SE

War events

12.2

0.87

1.5

0.06

5.8

0.54

 Combat

2.6

0.35

1

0

0.8

0.1

 Relief worker

2.1

0.33

1

0

0.7

0.1

 Civilian in war zone

3.6

0.67

1

0

1.1

0.21

 Civilian in region of terror

7.1

0.73

1

0

2.2

0.23

 Refugee

1.6

0.28

1

0

0.5

0.09

 Purposely injured, tortured, or killed someone

0.9

0.17

1.5

0.16

0.5

0.09

Physical violence

37.6

0.98

1.8

0.04

20.9

0.60

 Beaten up by caregiver

12

0.82

1

0

3.8

0.26

 Beaten up by partner

7.9

0.48

1

0

2.5

0.14

 Beaten up by someone else

12.4

0.61

1.5

0.06

5.9

0.34

 Mugged or threatened with a weapon

18.3

0.79

1.4

0.04

8.4

0.36

 Kidnapped

1.2

0.21

1

0

0.4

0.07

Sexual violence

7.6

0.56

1.8

0.08

4.4

0.34

 Raped

2.1

0.27

1.3

0.07

0.9

0.13

 Sexually assaulted

1.6

0.24

1.8

0.17

0.9

0.17

 Stalked

4.5

0.43

1.9

0.11

2.7

0.25

Accidents

31.9

1.06

1.9

0.05

19.6

0.57

 Toxic chemical exposure

3.2

0.40

2.3

0.19

2.3

0.38

 Automobile accident

13.2

0.64

1.2

0.03

5.1

0.24

 Other life threatening accident

5.6

0.42

1.4

0.07

2.5

0.25

 Natural disaster

4.1

0.51

1.3

0.06

1.7

0.21

 Man-made disaster

2.8

0.27

1.3

0.12

1.2

0.15

 Life-threatening illness

13.2

0.76

1.6

0.05

6.8

0.36

Unexpected death of loved one

39.2

1.22

1.6

0.04

19.6

0.57

Network events

14.1

0.74

1.6

0.07

6.9

0.47

 Child with serious illness

8.1

0.51

1.4

0.05

3.5

0.27

 Traumatic event to loved one

5.8

0.41

1.4

0.09

2.5

0.25

 Accidentally caused serious injury or death

1.9

0.28

1.6

0.26

1

0.22

Witnessing

29.5

1.29

2.2

0.09

20.5

0.96

 Witnessed death/dead body, saw someone hurt

28.5

1.29

2.0

0.07

18.1

0.89

 Saw atrocities

3.9

0.51

1.9

0.15

2.4

0.37

Others

6.4

0.52

1.1

0.02

2.2

0.18

 Some other event

3.0

0.37

1

0

0.9

0.12

 Private event

3.9

0.40

1

0

1.2

0.13

Total with any event

73.8

1.15

4.3

0.11

100

0

  1. aMean number of occurrences among respondents with any PTE vary significantly across the eight PTE classes (χ5 = 489.8, p < .001 as well as across the 28 individual PTE types (χ18 = 1698, p < .001). bEvents in this class as percentage of all traumatic events.
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BMC Psychiatry

ISSN: 1471-244X

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