Assessment of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Risk Factors Among Law Enforcement Staff: A Case-Control Study

Background: Given the inherent nature of their job, law enforcement staff regularly confront major stressors. Objectives: The prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among law enforcement staff is about twice that of the general population. We conducted this study to assess PTSD risk factors among this population. Methods: This prospective case-control study was conducted on patients with PTSD working as law enforcement staff as the case group, and their comrades with no PTSD as the control group. We used a questionnaire, including possible factors contributing to the development of PTSD, to gather the data. Binomial logistic regression was used to calculate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals. Results: A total of 84 participants were included in the study. We found that some factors could be protective against PTSD, including marriage (OR: 0.270, 95% CI: 0.087 - 0.839, P-value: 0.024), having an academic degree (OR: 0.333, 95% CI: 0.114 - 0.978, P-value: 0.045), higher income (R2: 0.081; OR: 0.849, 95% CI: 0.721 - 1.000, P-value: 0.050), and receiving satisfactory family support (OR: 0.413, 95% CI: 0.171 - 0.999, P-value: 0.050). Furthermore, logistic regression showed that a positive psychological history (OR: 2.562, 95% CI: 1.025 - 6.406, P-value: 0.044), a positive familial psychological history (OR: 2.667, 95% CI: 1.099 - 6.406, P-value: 0.030), and encountering trauma (aside from the current trauma) after 18 years of age (OR: 2.643, 95% CI: 1.038 - 6.731, P-value: 0.041) are risk factors for PTSD. Conclusions: Our results showed that marriage, having an academic degree, higher income, and receiving satisfactory family support are protective factors. In addition, the risk factors for PTSD include a positive psychological history, a positive familial psychological history, and encountering trauma (aside from the current trauma) after 18 years of age. However, given our limitations, further studies should be conducted before drawing solid conclusions.