Table 1.
Prevalence of PTSD, depression and anxiety in population-based studies on refugees living in a Western country
| Reference | Prevalence PTSD | Prevalence depression | Prevalence anxiety | Measurement instrument | Study population |
| [13] | 4% | 3% | 5% | CIDI | 1161 Vietnamese refugees living on average 11 years in Australia |
| [39,40] | 4% (and 9% just after arrival) | 18% | 2% | criteria from the DSM- Third Edition (PTSD) and Present State Examination (depression and anxiety) | 145 Vietnamese quota refugees interviewed 3 years after resettlement in Norway |
| [10,41,42] | 11% | 4% | criteria from the DSM-Revised Third Edition | 86 Iranian and 70 Turkish asylum seekers (51%) and refugees living in reception centres (62%) in the Netherlands (70% less than 1 year) | |
| [43] | 12% | Post-traumatic stress section of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule | 223 Cambodian refugees living 3 months to 10 years in New Zealand | ||
| [24] | 15% | HTQ | 240 refugees, predominantly from former Yugoslavia, interviewed on average 10 months and 3 years after resettlement in Norway | ||
| [44] | 18–33% | 21% | modified version of the Post-traumatic Symptom Scale (PTSD) and a questionnaire (depression) | 206 refugees from Bosnia-Hercegovina living in an asylum centre in Sweden | |
| [8] | 22% | HTQ | 157 refugees from Kosovo living on average 2 years in Canada | ||
| [27] | 32% | 63% | 36% | HTQ (PTSD) en HSCL-25 (depression and anxiety) | 54 Somalian asylum seekers (76%) and refugees living in reception centres (65% less than 6 months) in the Netherlands |
| [45] | 35% | 57% | CIDI | 51 Afghan refugees living on average 4 years in the Netherlands | |
| [25] | 35% | 33% | 23% | CIDI (PTSD) and HSCL-25 (depression and anxiety) | 40 asylum seekers from 21 countries living on average 3 years in Australia |
| [32] | 37% | CAPS | 86 Iraqi and Kurdish refugees recently resettled in Sweden | ||
| [12] | 45% | 51% | Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents-revised (PTSD) and National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule (depression) | 124 Cambodian refugees living on average 8 years in the United States | |
| [46] | 50% | Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-Fourth Edition | 40 refugees from former Yugoslavia living on average 3.5 years in a refugee camp in Italy | ||
| [47] | 61% | PDS | 129 Kosovar refugees studied immediately upon resettlement in the United States | ||
| [48] | 63% | CAPS | 126 Bosnian refugees with a permanent residency status living for over 3 years (92%) in Australia | ||
| [49] | 65% | 44% | 34% | PDS (PTSD) and Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventory | 842 refugees from Kosovo living in reception centres in the United Kingdom |
| [26] | 86% | 88% | 80% | PTSD Checklist based on criteria from the DSM-Revised Third Edition and HSCL-25 (depression and anxiety) | 50 Cambodian refugees living on average 5 years in the United States |
| [50] | 70% | PDS | 41 Bosnian refugees living in the United States | ||
| [51] | 6% (just after arrival) – 2% (10 years after arrival) | symptom inventory | 608 Southeast Asian refugees living in Canada | ||
| [52] | 25% | 25% | HSCL | 180 Somali refugees (96%) and asylum seekers living on average 8 years in the United Kingdom | |
| [28] | 29% | 15% | HSCL-25 | 129 Indochinese refugees living in New Zealand |
CIDI = Composite International Diagnostic Interview; DSM = Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; HTQ = Harvard Trauma Questionnaire; CAPS = Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale; PDS = Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale; HSCL = Hopkins Symptom Check List