Background: Studies about stress disorders following a disaster have mainly been based on single-event trauma with little emphasis on multiple traumas.

Aims: This study investigated the prevalence and predictors of stress disorders following two earthquakes in China.

Methods: Subjects were randomly sampled from 11 villages in rural China. A total of 624 subjects were administered with the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), Symptom Checklist -90-R (SCL-90-R), Coping Style Scale and Social Support Rating Scale. This was followed by a structural clinical interview using the Chinese translation of the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM)-IV-TR axis 1 disorders (SCID-I-P) for acute stress disorder (ASD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Results: The prevalence of ASD and PTSD was 15% and 29%, respectively. Regression analysis indicated that high intensity of trauma exposure, lower educational level, subjective feeling of economic status and psychological stress after the first earthquake significantly predicted the outcome of PTSD.

Conclusions: The study suggested that the prevalence of stress disorders in two earthquakes were higher than that experienced in a single disaster. The intensity of trauma exposure, low educational level, bad subjective feeling of economic status, and psychological stress after the first earthquake could be used to identify survivors at risk of developing PTSD in two earthquakes.