Observational study of PTSD and resilience in adults with congenital heart disease

The purpose of this study, entitled "Psychological trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, and resilience in adults with congenital heart disease in a large population sample", is to evaluate for exposures during a lifetime with congenital heart disease that may be associated with higher likelihood of developing PTSD.

Primary aim:

• Identify individual patient characteristics (medical, psychosocial, socioeconomic, etc.) that are associated with a diagnosis of PTSD.

Secondary aims:

• Calculate the prevalence of those meeting PTSD criteria in the ACHD population using the "gold standard" diagnostic clinician interview, while using the same data to validate a PTSD screening self-report survey in the ACHD population.
• Determine the role of resilience in ACHD patients using a validated screening survey to assess its protective role toward PTSD.

Hypotheses:

• There are certain exposures (e.g. post-surgical pain, ICU delirium, bullying due to CHD) that are associated with a higher incidence and odds of meeting PTSD criteria.
• "Gold standard" diagnostic interviews will most accurately estimate the prevalence of PTSD in ACHD which has been overestimated on prior screening-based studies, although the scope of the problem is still great.
• Patients with a higher resilience score will show an association with a lower risk of PTSD.