Abstract
BackgroundWe established a community-based cohort study to assess the long-term impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake on disaster victims and gene-environment interactions on the incidence of major diseases, such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases.MethodsWe asked participants to join our cohort in the health check-up settings and assessment center based settings. Inclusion criteria were aged 20 years or over and living in Miyagi or Iwate Prefecture. We obtained information on lifestyle, effect of disaster, blood, and urine information (Type 1 survey), and some detailed measurements (Type 2 survey), such as carotid echography and calcaneal ultrasound bone mineral density. All participants agreed to measure genome information and to distribute their information widely.ResultsAs a result, 87,865 gave their informed consent to join our study. Participation rate at health check-up site was about 70%. The participants in the Type 1 survey were more likely to have psychological distress than those in the Type 2 survey, and women were more likely to have psychological distress than men. Additionally, coastal residents were more likely to have higher degrees of psychological distress than inland residents, regardless of sex.ConclusionThis cohort comprised a large sample size and it contains information on the natural disaster, genome information, and metabolome information. This cohort also had several detailed measurements. Using this cohort enabled us to clarify the long-term effect of the disaster and also to establish personalized prevention based on genome, metabolome, and other omics information.
Highlights
On the afternoon of March 11, 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) occurred in a large area within eastern Japan, and the following tsunami devastated coastal areas of northern Japan
There is a pressing concern regarding increased neuropsychiatric disorders, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD),[2] cigarette and alcohol consumption caused by psychological stress,[3] and high blood pressure (BP)[4] and accompanying cardiovascular diseases (CVD)[5] due to disaster-related stress in the areas where people were greatly affected by the GEJE
Individuals were excluded from the Tohoku Medical Megabank (TMM) CommCohort Study if they did not consent to participate in the study and=or if they were not able to complete the study questionnaires
Summary
On the afternoon of March 11, 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) occurred in a large area within eastern Japan, and the following tsunami devastated coastal areas of northern Japan. In Miyagi and Iwate Prefectures, 14,216 deaths and 2,334 missing people were reported.[1] Miyagi and Iwate Prefectures could be considered most severely impacted by GEJE, with the most damage. There is a pressing concern regarding increased neuropsychiatric disorders, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD),[2] cigarette and alcohol consumption caused by psychological stress,[3] and high blood pressure (BP)[4] and accompanying cardiovascular diseases (CVD)[5] due to disaster-related stress in the areas where people were greatly affected by the GEJE. We established a community-based cohort study to assess the long-term impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake on disaster victims and gene-environment interactions on the incidence of major diseases, such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases
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