International Journal of Epidemiology 2000;29:449-455
© International Epidemiological Association 2000
Increased acute myocardial infarction mortality following the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake in Japan
a Department of Public Health, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
b Department of Civil Engineering, Nagaoka College of Technology, Nagaoka, Japan.
Reprint requests to: Keiko Ogawa, Department of Public Health, Tohoku University School of Medicine, 2–1, Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi, 980–8575, Japan. E-mail: keikoo{at}mail.cc.tohoku.ac.jp
Background This study examined the factors affecting mortality from acute myocardial infarction (AMI) following the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake.
Methods We examined the death certificates of all decedents between January 1994 and December 1996 in 16 municipalities, which covered most of the area affected by the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake. We analysed the extent and duration of the increased mortality from AMI. The standardized mortality ratio (SMR) of AMI was calculated weekly after the earthquake, taking the number of AMI deaths during the same period in 1994 as a reference. The main outcome measures were the number of deaths from AMI (ICD-9 410; ICD-10 I21, I22) in the study area before and after the earthquake, and the weekly SMR after the earthquake.
Results A significant increase in mortality from AMI in the study area as a whole continued for about 8 weeks after the earthquake. There was wide variation amongst the regions with respect to the extent and duration of the increased mortality from AMI. The SMR of AMI showed a positive relationship with the percentage of houses which were completely destroyed, and was almost significant (r = 0.530, P = 0.062).
Conclusions The duration of increased cardiac mortality after the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake was longer than seen with previous earthquakes. Further analysis to identify the factors affecting cardiac mortality is needed so that we may reduce adverse health effects during the recovery stage following natural disaster.
Keywords Acute myocardial infarction, 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake, natural disaster
Accepted 17 December 1999
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  A. Lerman, D. R. Holmes, J. Herrmann, and B. J. Gersh Microcirculatory dysfunction in ST-elevation myocardial infarction: cause, consequence, or both? Eur. Heart J., April 1, 2007; 28(7): 788 - 797. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 H. Tan, W. Ping, T. Yang, S. Li, A. Liu, J. Zhou, J. Groves, and Z. Sun The Synthetic Evaluation Model for Analysis of Flooding Hazards Eur J Public Health, April 1, 2007; 17(2): 206 - 210. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 T. Lang, V. Schwoebel, E. Diene, E. Bauvin, E. Garrigue, K. Lapierre-Duval, A. Guinard, S. Cassadou, and for the Scientific and Operational Committees Assessing post-disaster consequences for health at the population level: experience from the AZF factory explosion in Toulouse J. Epidemiol. Community Health, February 1, 2007; 61(2): 103 - 107. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 T. Hizume, K. Morikawa, A. Takaki, K. Abe, K. Sunagawa, M. Amano, K. Kaibuchi, C. Kubo, and H. Shimokawa Sustained Elevation of Serum Cortisol Level Causes Sensitization of Coronary Vasoconstricting Responses in Pigs In Vivo: A Possible Link Between Stress and Coronary Vasospasm Circ. Res., September 29, 2006; 99(7): 767 - 775. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J. Ejiri, N. Inoue, S. Kobayashi, R. Shiraki, K. Otsui, T. Honjo, M. Takahashi, Y. Ohashi, S. Ichikawa, M. Terashima, et al. Possible Role of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor in the Pathogenesis of Coronary Artery Disease Circulation, October 4, 2005; 112(14): 2114 - 2120. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 S. Koton, D. Tanne, N. M. Bornstein, and M. S. Green Triggering risk factors for ischemic stroke: A case-crossover study Neurology, December 14, 2004; 63(11): 2006 - 2010. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 C.-H. Tsai, F.-W. Lung, and S.-Y. Wang The 1999 Ji-Ji (Taiwan) Earthquake as a Trigger for Acute Myocardial Infarction Psychosomatics, December 1, 2004; 45(6): 477 - 482. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A. M. Sibai, A. Fletcher, and H. K. Armenian Variations in the Impact of Long-term Wartime Stressors on Mortality among the Middle-aged and Older Population in Beirut, Lebanon, 1983-1993 Am. J. Epidemiol., July 15, 2001; 154(2): 128 - 137. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|