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 elderly inhabitants of the village of Lockerbie, who had survived the Lockerbie 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 significant improvement across a range of anxiety-based symptoms, 15.7% of the subjects continued to fulfil diagnostic criteria (DSM-III-R) for PTSD. In these subjects, there was a persistence of other anxiety-related symptoms and of major depression (DSM-III-R). This is the only longitudinal assessment of PTSD in elderly subjects and it shows that, as with younger subjects, PTSD tends to persist for at least 2 years after the traumatic event and, for a substantial minority, has still not remitted within 3 years of the traumatic event.