TY - JOUR
T1 - Persistent mental health impacts of disaster. Five-year follow-up after the 2011 great east Japan earthquake and tsunami
T2 - Iwanuma Study
AU - Kino, Shiho
AU - Aida, Jun
AU - Kondo, Katsunori
AU - Kawachi, Ichiro
N1 - Funding Information:
We appreciate the support and cooperation of the Iwanuma Mayor's office, and the staff of the Department of Health and Welfare of Iwanuma city government . This work was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health ( R01 AG042463 ); Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (KAKENHI 15H01972 , KAKENHI 23243070 , KAKENHI 22390400 , KAKENHI 22592327 and KAKENHI 24390469 ); a Health Labour Sciences Research Grant from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (H22-Choju-Shitei-008, H24-Choju-Wakate-009 and H28-Chouju-Ippan-002); and a grant from the Strategic Research Foundation Grant-Aided Project for Private Universities from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology ( S0991035 ); Japan Agency for Medical Research and development (AMED) ( JP17dk0110017 , JP18dk0110027 , JP18ls0110002 , JP18le0110009 ). The funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; and preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Few studies have tracked the long-term mental health outcomes following major disaster. We sought to document the trajectories of depressive symptoms and post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in the aftermath of the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami. A cohort of community-dwelling older adults were followed for 5.5 years after the disaster at 3 waves (2010, 2013 and 2016). Depressive symptoms were measured by the Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form, while PTSS was assessed by the Screening Questionnaire for Disaster Mental Health. We examined the trajectories of mental illness symptoms based on the probabilities of persistence, recovery, and delayed onset. Among people without pre-disaster depressive symptoms, 13.6% had developed depressive symptoms 2.5 years after the disaster. Of these, half of those had recovered and half had persisted at the 5.5 year follow-up. 11.1% of survivors reported post-traumatic stress symptoms in 2013; of these, 58% recovered by 2016, while 4.8% experienced delayed onset. Job loss was associated with persistent PTSS (OR 2.03; 95%CI 1.01–4.12) while a drop in subjective economic status predicted delayed onset of PTSS (OR 2.13; 1.34–3.39). However, disaster-related experiences were unrelated to the trajectory of depressive symptoms at 5.5 years. The probabilities of remission (58%) and delayed onset (5%) of PTSS are consistent with prior disaster research. The experience of job loss and drop in subjective economic status appeared to exert a lingering influence on the persistence or delayed onset of PTSS. Depressive symptoms after the disaster had remitted in roughly half of the survivors after 5.5 years.
AB - Few studies have tracked the long-term mental health outcomes following major disaster. We sought to document the trajectories of depressive symptoms and post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in the aftermath of the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami. A cohort of community-dwelling older adults were followed for 5.5 years after the disaster at 3 waves (2010, 2013 and 2016). Depressive symptoms were measured by the Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form, while PTSS was assessed by the Screening Questionnaire for Disaster Mental Health. We examined the trajectories of mental illness symptoms based on the probabilities of persistence, recovery, and delayed onset. Among people without pre-disaster depressive symptoms, 13.6% had developed depressive symptoms 2.5 years after the disaster. Of these, half of those had recovered and half had persisted at the 5.5 year follow-up. 11.1% of survivors reported post-traumatic stress symptoms in 2013; of these, 58% recovered by 2016, while 4.8% experienced delayed onset. Job loss was associated with persistent PTSS (OR 2.03; 95%CI 1.01–4.12) while a drop in subjective economic status predicted delayed onset of PTSS (OR 2.13; 1.34–3.39). However, disaster-related experiences were unrelated to the trajectory of depressive symptoms at 5.5 years. The probabilities of remission (58%) and delayed onset (5%) of PTSS are consistent with prior disaster research. The experience of job loss and drop in subjective economic status appeared to exert a lingering influence on the persistence or delayed onset of PTSS. Depressive symptoms after the disaster had remitted in roughly half of the survivors after 5.5 years.
KW - Depression
KW - Disaster victims
KW - Japan
KW - Natural disasters
KW - Post-traumatic stress disorders
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.08.016
DO - 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.08.016
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85090977530
JO - Journal of Psychiatric Research
JF - Journal of Psychiatric Research
SN - 0022-3956
ER -