Prevalence of cardiovascular diseases following man-made disasters; a systematic review

Abstract

Objective: Disasters increase the incidence of infectious and contagious diseases, non-communicable diseases, and trauma. This systematic review aims to investigate the impact of man-made disasters on cardiovascular diseases (CVDs).
 Methods: This is a systematic review conducted following the PRISMA protocol. The population, intervention, control, outcome (PICO) framework utilized for this research is as follows: P: people with CVDs; I: various man-made disasters; C: no intervention is being compared; O: prevalence, treatment, and management of the disease. In the present study, English-language articles published until November 9, 2022 that investigated CVDs in human-made disasters were included. We conducted an extensive search in Medline, Web of Science, Embase, and SCOPUS.
 Results: The primary search of the databases resulted in 1878 articles, from which 1219 non-duplicate records. Finally, 18 articles were included; 13 studies were in the area of nuclear and atomic accidents, four studies were related to the sulfur mustard gas, and one was related to methyl chloride.
 Conclusion: CVDs increased in prevalence after man-made disasters, particularly among high-risk individuals. The likelihood of developing CVDs is higher with increasing dose, intensity, and duration of exposure.