Abstract
BackgroundThe July 2018 Japan Floods caused enormous damage to western Japan. Such disasters can especially impact elderly persons. Research has shown that natural disasters exacerbated a decline in cognitive function, but to date, there have been no studies examining the effects of this disaster on the elderly. The object of this study was to reveal the effect of this disaster in terms of cognitive decline among the elderly.MethodsStudy participants were certified users of the long-term care insurance (LTCI) system in Hiroshima, Okayama, and Ehime prefectures from May 2018 to June 2018. The observation period was from July 2018 to December 2018. Our primary outcome was cognitive decline after the disaster using a dementia symptomatology assessment. In addition to a crude model, a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model was used to assess the cognitive decline of victims, adjusting for age classification, gender, the level of dementia scale before the disaster occurred, residential environment, whether a participant used facilities shut down after the disaster, and population density. After we confirmed that the interaction term between victims and residential environment was statistically significant, we stratified them for the analysis.ResultsThe total number of participants was 264,614. Victims accounted for 1.10% of the total participants (n = 2,908). For the Cox proportional hazards model, the hazard ratio of the victims was 1.18 (95% confidential interval (CI): 1.05–1.32) in the crude model and 1.12 (95% CI: 1.00–1.26) in the adjusted model. After being stratified by residential environment, the hazard ratio of home victims was 1.20 (95% CI: 1.06–1.36) and the hazard ratio of facility victims was 0.89 (95% CI: 0.67–1.17).ConclusionsThis study showed that elderly living at home during the 2018 Japan Floods were at risk for cognitive decline. Medical providers, care providers, and local governments should establish a system to check on the cognitive function of elderly victims and provide necessary care support.
Highlights
The July 2018 Japan Floods caused enormous damage to western Japan
Persons living at home who could live independently for most activities of daily living with or without any care support were at higher risk of cognitive decline due to the disaster (HR: 1.28, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.12–1.46)
This study revealed that the 2018 Japan Floods exacerbated a decline in the cognitive function of elderly victims living at home
Summary
The July 2018 Japan Floods caused enormous damage to western Japan. Such disasters can especially impact elderly persons. Research has shown that natural disasters exacerbated a decline in cognitive function, but to date, there have been no studies examining the effects of this disaster on the elderly. Torrential rains in western Japan between 28 June and 8 July 2018 caused enormous damage that affected local residents [1, 2]. The majority of the victims and impacts occur among elderly people [5]. This was the case in the 2018 Japan Floods, and 90% of the victims were elderly people over 65 years old. It is important to develop specific countermeasures for this group, especially as heavy torrential rains occur almost every year in Japan [10]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
