Posttraumatic Stress Disorder And Sleep Quality Among Urban Firefighters In Thailand – [Letter]

Eleanor Smith, Diana Velazquez-Pimentel, Amaury Trockels

Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, London, UK

Correspondence: Eleanor Smith
Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, 4 Newark St, Whitechapel, London E1 2AT, UK
Email e.smith@smd14.qmul.ac.uk

With great interest we read the study by Khumtong et al on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and sleep quality amongst a population of urban firefighters in Thailand.¹ The authors concluded urban firefighters in Thailand with PTSD were more likely to experience poor sleep quality than those without. Therefore, they importantly recognise that interventions in psychological well-being for this population should be implemented. We would like to offer some insights into their study.
Khumtong et al used the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist – Civilian Version (PCL-C) in order to identify PTSD within their study population.¹ The authors chose a cut-off score of 44. However, there is no universal validated threshold score to make a diagnosis with the PCL-C, as cut-offs vary between 27 and 59.² Nydegger et al suggested using a score of 50 or more to indicate PTSD in a firefighting population.³ Therefore, it is likely that Khumtong et al are overestimating the presence of PTSD within their sample, decreasing the validity of their results. Furthermore, these results cannot be compared to other studies using the PCL-C if their values for PTSD are different.
 
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