Abstract
Background: Study on the medium- to long-term effect of a great earthquake on health among the victims is limited. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the medium-term (i.e., three months) effect of the Great East Japan Earthquake (occurred on March 11, 2011) on health conditions (i.e., blood pressure, hemoglobin A1c [HbA1c], blood sugar, triglyceride, and total cholesterol) among the victims, by comparing with the control population. Methods: In June 2011, taking blood pressure and blood tests were conducted for a total of 159 victims who had stayed in the shelter located in the Tohoku region since the Great East Japan Earthquake. The same tests were conducted for a total of 1,048 control participants in Tokyo from October 2010 to December 2011. Analyses of covariance and multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted. Results: Compared with the control group, the victim group had significantly higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure; lower HbA1c, blood sugar, triglyceride, and total cholesterol, after adjusting for age and sex. In a similar way, the victim group had a significantly higher prevalence odds ratio of hypertension; lower prevalence odds ratios of diabetes mellitus, high blood sugar, high triglyceride, and high total cholesterol than control group. Conclusions: The present study revealed that the prevalence of hypertension is higher among the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake. Lower prevalence of diabetes mellitus, high blood sugar, high triglyceride, and high total cholesterol among the victims may be explained by the continued inadequate diet issues after the earthquake.
Highlights
A magnitude 9.0 earthquake occurred on March 11, 2011, 14:46 at the epicenter about 130 km off the coast of Sanriku Northeast
Because we focused mainly on the effect of life in the shelter on the health condition among the victims, control group was collected from Tokyo residents, who had not lived in the shelter but experienced the consequences of disaster such as series of strong aftershocks, fear of radioactive exposures, and planned blackouts
The proportion of men was significantly lower in the victim (43.4%) than in the control group (53.2%), whereas the proportion of Victim group Non-victim group P
Summary
A magnitude 9.0 earthquake occurred on March 11, 2011, 14:46 at the epicenter about 130 km off the coast of Sanriku Northeast. After nine months of the tsunami, 15,842 deaths were reported, 3,481 missing, and about 18,000 people were spending their lives in the shelter [1] Majority of those who lived in the shelter would end up living in the temporary housing later, where the huge environment and lifestyle changes are predicted to cause a great distress to the victims. Study on the medium- to long-term effect of a great earthquake on health among the victims is limited. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the medium-term (i.e., three months) effect of the Great East Japan Earthquake (occurred on March 11, 2011) on health conditions (i.e., blood pressure, hemoglobin A1c [HbA1c], blood sugar, triglyceride, and total cholesterol) among the victims, by comparing with the control population
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