THE LOCKERBIE DISASTER - A 3-YEAR FOLLOW-UP OF ELDERLY VICTIMS

The long-term outcome of a civilian disaster is examined in an elderly population assessed originally for medicolegal purposes. Thirty-one e lderly inhabitants of the village of Lockerbie, who had survived the L ockerbie air disaster, were assessed 1 year after the event. Nineteen of the sample were available for reexamination 2 years later. Although there was a significant reduction in the incidence of PTSD and signif icant improvement across a range of anxiety-based symptoms, 15.7% of t he subjects continued to fulfil diagnostic criteria (DSM-III-R) for PT SD. In these subjects, there was a persistence of other anxiety-relate d symptoms and of major depression (DSM-III-R). This is the only longi tudinal assessment of PTSD in elderly subjects and it shows that, as w ith younger subjects, PTSD tends to persist for at least 2 years after the traumatic event and, for a substantial minority, has still not re mitted within 3 years of the traumatic event.