P-119 Impact of the Strasbourg Christmas Market Attack in December 2018 on Police Officers. Mental Health of Exposed and Unexposed Police Officers Three Months After the Attack

Abstract Introduction Police officers are regularly exposed to psycho-trauma during routine police work. During the attack, many police officers intervened until the terrorist was neutralized. As there was no process in place to monitor so many police officers medically over such a short period of time, it was decided to set up an epidemiological study within the occupational health department. Police operational support psychologists made themselves available to the officers, but not all of them were consulted. Our aim was to identify officers with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, suicide risk and to offer them treatment if they had not been consulted themselves. Methods Three months after the attack, an online questionnaire was sent to police officers. Questions covered socio-demographic data, occupation, degree of exposure, sleep during the week following the attack, PTSD (PCL-5), depression (PHQ9), and suicidal ideation (Yes/no questions). Of the 475 police respondents, 263 had been exposed to the attack (182 directly) and 212 had not. Results The prevalence of partial and complete PTSD in the exposed group was 12.6% and 6.6% respectively. The prevalence of depression was 11.5%. A higher risk of PTSD was present in directly exposed police officers (OR=2.981.10-8.12p=0.03), but not of depression (OR=0.400.10-1.10 p=0.08). Conversely, sleep deprivation in the week following the attack was associated with a higher rate of depression (OR=7.922.40-26.5p0.001) and not PTSD (OR=2.180.81-5.91p=0.13). Discussion and conclusion As police officers are exposed to a non-negligible risk of PTSD, it is necessary to set up an organization in the occupational health department to identify these officers, with a particular focus on those directly exposed.