BACKGROUND The wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo have left indelible marks on the mental health and functioning of the Congolese civilians that sought refuge in Uganda. Even though it is clear that civilians who are exposed to potentially traumatizing events in war and conflict areas develop trauma-related mental health problems, scholarly information on gender differences on exposure to different war-related traumatic events, their conditional risks to developing PTSD and whether the cumulative exposure to traumatic events affects men and women differently is still scanty. METHODS In total, 325 (n = 143 males, n = 182 females) Congolese refugees who lived in Nakivale, a refugee settlement in the Southwestern part of Uganda were interviewed within a year after their arrival. Assessment included exposure to war-related traumatic events, and DSM-IV PTSD symptom severity. RESULTS Our main findings were that refugees were highly exposed to war-related traumatic events with experiencing dangerous flight as the most common event for both men (97%) and women (97%). The overall high prevalence of PTSD differed among women (94%) and men (84%). The highest conditional prevalence of PTSD in women was associated with experiencing rape. The dose-response effect differed significantly between men and women with women showing higher PTSD symptom severity when experiencing low and moderate levels of potentially traumatizing event types. CONCLUSION In conflict areas, civilians are highly exposed to different types of war-related traumatic events that expose them to high levels of PTSD symptoms, particularly women. Interventions focused at reducing mental health problems resulting from war should take the context of gender into consideration.

中文翻译：

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应对与战争有关的创伤和创伤后应激障碍的性别差异-乌干达刚果难民中的一项研究。

背景技术刚果民主共和国的战争给在乌干达寻求避难的刚果平民的心理健康和功能留下了不可磨灭的印记。尽管很明显，在战争和冲突地区可能遭受创伤事件的平民会发展与创伤有关的心理健康问题，有关在与战争相关的各种创伤事件中所遭受的性别差异，其发展PTSD的条件风险以及是否遭受创伤的心理研究的学术信息遭受创伤事件累积的影响对男女的影响仍然很少。方法在居住在乌干达西南部难民定居点纳基维尔的总共325名（n = 143，男性，n = 182，女性）刚果难民在抵达后不到一年的时间内接受了采访。评估包括暴露于与战争有关的创伤事件，和DSM-IV PTSD症状严重程度。结果我们的主要发现是，难民极易遭受与战争有关的创伤事件，而危险逃亡是男性（97％）和女性（97％）中最常见的事件。PTSD的总体高发率在女性（94％）和男性（84％）之间有所不同。妇女中PTSD的最高条件患病率与遭受强奸有关。男性和女性之间的剂量反应效应显着不同，女性在经历中低水平的潜在创伤事件类型时表现出较高的PTSD症状严重程度。结论在冲突地区，平民极易遭受与战争有关的各种类型的创伤事件，使他们容易遭受PTSD症状的侵袭，尤其是妇女。