The utility of the Children's Revised Impact of Event Scale in screening for concurrent PTSD following admission to intensive care.

Although there is some information available regarding the utility of the Children's Revised Impact of Event Scale (CRIES) in screening for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), data are scarce and limited to studies sampling children predominantly injured in road traffic accidents. This study investigated the utility of 2 versions, the CRIES-8 and CRIES-13, in identifying those children meeting criteria for PTSD following admission to a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). The Children's PTSD Inventory (CPTSDI), a diagnostic interview, and the CRIES-13 were administered to 55 children, aged 6-16 years, 6 months following admission to the PICU. Of the 55, 14 (25%) met criteria on the CPTSDI. Cutoff scores of 14.5 on the CRIES-8 and 22.5 on the CRIES-13 maximized sensitivity and specificity and correctly classified 78%-86% of children. Both cutoff scores were lower than those reported in other samples. The CRIES-13 appeared to offer greater utility than the CRIES-8, also in contrast to previous findings. Methodological or sampling differences may account for the discrepancy with prior studies. The proposed cutoffs are recommended specifically for use with PICU patients and replication and further validation of the CRIES with other samples is warranted.