Psychological sequelae of September 11.

Comment on Psychological sequelae of the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City. [N Engl J Med. 2002]

Studies of health care use after the September 11 terrorist attacks would complement surveys such as the one by Galea et al. (March 28 issue). We used the Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics (ESSENCE) data base to conduct behavioral health surveillance among military health system beneficiaries in the Washington, D.C., area after the September 11 attack on the Pentagon. This data base includes the electronic records of all outpatient health care visits at military treatment facilities.