Comorbidity of the stress reaction and lung disease on the clinical material during and after the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina Nermana Mehic ´-Basara a, * , Bakir Mehic ´ b a Public Institution, Institute for Alcoholism and Other Dependency Diseases, Bolnic ˇka 25, 71000, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina b Clinical Center of Sarajevo University, Clinic of Lung Disease and TB, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina Abstract Post-traumatic stress disorder manifests as a postponed or continued response to a stress event or situation (short- or long-term), of a very dangerous or catastrophic nature that will almost always bring pervasive distress. However, for some somatic diseases, it is not known for certain whether it is a psycho-physiological disorder mainly caused by unsolved emotional conflict or stress. The aims of the study are to: (1) determine which major traumas related to war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) were most often observed in patients with lung diseases; (2) how often the symptoms of stress reaction appear in patients with lung diseases; and (3) which symptoms of stress reaction were most often manifested among those who suffer from lung diseases. The material included samples obtained from 121 patients with lung diseases and a control group made up of 31 healthy persons. The survey was conducted through the «Sarajevo PTSD Check List» and the results were statistically processed through mean value tests and tests of frequency distributions, namely Student t-test and v 2 test to determine the statistically significant differences (SSD) between the two groups. The study results showed that the leading traumas related to war in B&H within the observed group of lung patients were: fear of possible exposure to dangerous noxious agents, leaving and staying at the front line, refugee status, incarceration at prison camps, death of a child. The most frequent symptoms of stress reactions among the subjects were symptoms of withdrawal, avoidance, and loss of a view to the future. In conclusion, it can be said that the study has observed an interesting relationship between stress reaction symptoms and seriousness of lung disease which caused patients to be hospitalized. D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Stress reaction; Lung diseases; War; Sarajevo PTSD Check List 0531-5131/02 D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII:S0531-5131(02)00617-9 Abbreviations: PTSD, post-traumatic stress disease, post-traumatic stress disorder; SSD, statistically significant difference; TB, tuberculosis; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; B&H, Bosnia and Herzegovina. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +387-33-219-738; fax: +387-33-202-573. E-mail address: mehicb@bih.net.ba (N. Mehic ´-Basara). International Congress Series 1241 (2002) 279 – 289