A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Global Prevalence of ICD-11 Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in the Community

Background: Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) has been included in the International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision (ICD-11) to capture symptomatology caused by extreme, prolonged, or multiple forms of trauma. Aims: The present systematic review and meta-analysis sought to assess the one-month prevalence of this disorder in the community setting. Method: A systematic search was conducted in four databases (Google Scholar, PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus) where relevant studies were subjected to explicit eligibility criteria, resulting in 16 included studies and 22 effect sizes. Study characteristics were tabulated, their methodological quality was assessed and findings were synthesized using a random-effects meta-analysis. Results: Findings indicated overall that C-PTSD has a moderate prevalence in this population (PREV = 8.59%, 95% CI [5.84%, 11.34%], I² = 98.6%). Moderator analyses indicated that prevalence differed significantly by continent, scale, sample type, country, and language. Conclusions: The results of this study strongly indicate that 9 out of 100 people in the community are at risk for C-PTSD, making it a primary focus of attention and the public policies that it represents. Future research should further explore the prevalence of C-PTSD among specific population groups who experienced specific episodes of trauma.