Third, the vast majority of individuals meeting lifetime criteria for Same Event PTSD met criteria for PTSD according to both the DSM-IV and the DSM-V. For those who met DSM-IV, but not DSM-5 PTSD criteria, the biggest factor was the exclusion of sudden, unexpected death not due to violence as a Criterion A event in DSM-5. This factor accounted for over 50% of all such discrepant cases. This finding is consistent with the results of Breslau and colleagues (1998) who observed that sudden, unexpected death was related to a high percentage of DSM-IV PTSD cases within a representative Detroit area sample. However, that study did not clearly distinguish between sudden unexpected deaths resulting from violence/accidents versus nonviolent causes. Additional research is needed to evaluate whether some types of nonviolent/accidental, but sudden unexpected deaths lead to similar patterns of PTSD symptoms and what key elements may be identified in such cases.
