Earthquake as a Trigger of Acute Attacks in People with Hereditary Angioedema

Abstract

Objectives: Two major earthquakes with 7.7 and 7.6 magnitudes struck the southeastern region of Turkey on February 6th, 2023. Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is an inherited disease that can be worsened by psychological factors and physical trauma.Our study aimed to evaluate the effect of earthquake and earthquake-related anxiety, depression and stress factors in HAE patients. Methods: The study was conducted on patients with HAE who are located in the southeastern region of Turkey.The mental-health-status was evaluated with Depression-Anxiety-Stress-Scale(DASS-21). Results: Sixty-three HAE patients were includedin the study. More than half(n:33, 52.4%) were female andthe median age was 31(26-42) years. DASS-Stress, DASS-Anxiety,and DASS-Depression scores revealed that 25(39.7%), 37(58.7%) and 32(50.8%) patients had abnormal stress, anxiety and depression status, respectively. The numbers of post-earthquake attacks and icatibant injections were significantly higher than the ones in the pre-earthquake period(p