한국 소방관에서 보이는 외상 후 스트레스 증상과 음주의 연관성

Association Between Alcohol Use and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in Korean Firefighters

Objectives：This study aimed to assess the relationship bet-ween Korean firefighters’ posttraumatic symptoms and alcohol use problems. Methods：Study participants were 59 firefighters working in Kwangju in 2009. We collected information about the participants’ demographic and job-related characteristics, and we administered the Alcohol dependence scale (ADS), Clinician Ad-ministered PTSD Scale (CAPS), and the Symptoms checklist 90-Revised version (SLC 90-R) to them. Statistical analyses utilized the Wilcoxon rank-sum test & and the Kruskal-Wallis test. Results：We used the CAPS scores to divide the participants into a PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) symptom group (total score ≥20, n=7) and a “no symptoms” group (total score ≤19, n=52). We estimated the PTSD symptoms prevalence in fire-fighters as 11.86% by CAPS score. Participant ADS scores were independent of PTSD symptoms, but 16.94% of the firefighters showed moderate to severe alcohol-use problems. Conclusion：PTSD symptoms had no correlations with alcohol problems. However, alcohol problems are more common than PTSD symptoms among firefighters, so clinicians should carefully evaluate such patients’ alcohol problems, not just their post-trauma symptoms.