A wave of COVID-19 related PTSD? Disentangling the impact of exposure to COVID-19 related events on probable posttraumatic stress disorder in the general Dutch population

Exposure to traumatic events during the pandemic influenced the prevalence of probable PTSD. Despite the lower relative impact of pandemic-related traumatic events compared to non-COVID related traumatic events, exposure to pandemic-related traumatic events accounted for 1.1% of probable PTSD in the population and is thereby comparable in impact to five commonly occurring traumatic events. This emphasizes the need to address mental health consequences and risk factors during pandemics and, potentially, other crises with population-wide exposure to events.