General population studies have shown that a large proportion of people in developed countries have been exposed to at least one TE in their lifetime (estimates from 28 to 90%), with the most common events being the unexpected death of a loved one, motor vehicle accidents and being mugged (e.g. Norris, 1992; Breslau et al. 1998; Hepp et al. 2006; Storr et al. 2009; Roberts et al. 2011; Ogle et al. 2014). Much more limited evidence for less developed countries suggests that fatalities due to injuries and accidents are more common in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income countries (Herbert et al. 2011); for example, road injuries are the 10th leading cause of lost years of life in developed countries and the 8th leading cause in developing countries (GBD 2013 Mortality and Causes of Death Collaborators, 2014). However, the cross-national prevalence of exposure to TEs is unknown as no study of which we are aware has examined the full range of TEs in population-based samples using the same methods across a wide range of countries that differ in level of economic development.
