Post-traumatic stress disorder among recently diagnosed patients with HIV/AIDS in South Africa B. O. OLLEY 1,2 , M. D. ZEIER 3 , S. SEEDAT 1 , & D. J. STEIN 1 1 MRC Unit on Anxiety Disorders, Department of Psychiatry, University of Stellenbosch, Cape Town, South Africa, 2 Department of Psychology, Faculty of the Social Sciences, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and 3 Infectious Disease Clinic, Department of Internal Medicine, Tygerberg Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa Abstract This study examined the prevalence of and factors associated with post-traumatic stress disorder in recently diagnosed HIV/AIDS patients in South Africa. One hundred and forty-nine (44 male, 105 female) recently diagnosed HIV/AIDS patients (mean duration since diagnosis  /5.8 months, SD  /4.1) were evaluated. Subjects were assessed using the MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), the Carver Brief COPE coping scale and the Sheehan Disability Scale. In addition, previous exposures to trauma and past risk behaviours were assessed. Twenty-two patients (14.8%) met criteria for PTSD. Current psychiatric conditions more likely to be associated with PTSD included major depressive disorder (29% in PTSD patients versus 7% in non-PTSD patients, p  /0.004), suicidality (54% versus 11%, p  /0.001) and social anxiety disorder (40% versus 13%, p  /0.04). Further patients with PTSD reported significantly more work impairment and demon- strated a trend towards higher usage of alcohol as a means of coping. Discriminant function analysis indicated that female gender and a history of sexual violation in the past year were significantly associated with a diagnosis of PTSD. Patients whose PTSD was a direct result of an HIV/AIDS diagnosis (8/22) did not differ from other patients with PTSD on demographic or clinical features. In the South African context, PTSD is not an uncommon disorder in patients with HIV/AIDS. In some cases, PTSD is secondary to the diagnosis of HIV/AIDS but in most cases it is seen after other traumas, with sexual violation and intimate partner violence in women being particularly important. Introduction Recent reports have demonstrated that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the most prevalent psychiatric disorders in people with HIV/AIDS (Kelly et al., 1998; Martinez et al., 2002). Prevalence rates of PTSD in HIV/AIDS have ranged from 30% to 64% (Botha, 1996; Kelly et al., 1998; Martinez et al., 2002); rates that are significantly higher than those found in the general population (Carey et al., 2003; Emsley et al., 2003). The nature of this relationship, including the predictors of PTSD, therefore deserves closer examination. Correspondence: S. Seedat, Mb ChB, FC Psych (S.A.), MRC Unit on Anxiety Disorders, Department of Psychiatry, University of Stellenbosch, PO Box 19063, Tygerberg 7505, Cape Town, South Africa. Tel:  /27 21 938 9374. Fax:  /27 21 933 5790. E-mail: sseedat@sun.ac.za ISSN 0954-0121 print/ISSN 1360-0451 online # 2005 Taylor & Francis Group Ltd DOI: 10.1080/09540120412331319741 AIDS Care, July 2005; 17(5): 550  /557