{"id":220649,"date":"2023-01-03T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-03T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/?post_type=bu-article&#038;p=220649"},"modified":"2024-10-07T11:30:11","modified_gmt":"2024-10-07T15:30:11","slug":"the-adverse-health-effects-of-disaster-related-trauma","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2023\/the-adverse-health-effects-of-disaster-related-trauma\/","title":{"rendered":"The Adverse Health Effects of Disaster-Related Trauma"},"content":{"rendered":"\t<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin sphnews-block-editorial-leadin is-style-text-over-image has-media has-box has-media-focus-center-middle has-text-position-x-left has-light-theme\">\n\t\t<div class=\"container-lockup\">\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-leadin-media\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"2560\" height=\"1681\" src=\"\/sph\/files\/2022\/12\/disaster-cropped-scaled.jpeg\" class=\"\" alt=\"Tsunami damage of the East Japan great earthquake disaster\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/12\/disaster-cropped-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/12\/disaster-cropped-636x418.jpeg 636w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/12\/disaster-cropped-1024x672.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/12\/disaster-cropped-768x504.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/12\/disaster-cropped-1536x1009.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/12\/disaster-cropped-2048x1345.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/12\/disaster-cropped-755x496.jpeg 755w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/12\/disaster-cropped-1523x1000.jpeg 1523w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/12\/disaster-cropped-900x591.jpeg 900w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/12\/disaster-cropped-1920x1261.jpeg 1920w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/12\/disaster-cropped-1200x788.jpeg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-outer\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-inner has-opacity-90\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"wp-prepress-tag\">natural disaster<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"head\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Adverse Health Effects of Disaster-Related Trauma\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"deck\"><br><br>A new study has found that individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to experience disaster-related home loss, and they are also more likely to develop functional limitations following the disaster.\u00a0<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar js-block-editorial-metabar sphnews-prepress-layout-metabar\">\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-date\">January 3, 2023<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-credits\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul data-credit-type=\"By\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/authors\/jillian-mckoy\/\">Jillian McKoy<\/a><\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-share js-bu-prepress-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-action\"><\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\n<p>Major natural disasters such as last month\u2019s <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/nation\/2022\/12\/20\/northern-california-earthquake-ferndale\/10929671002\/\" target=\"_blank\">6.4 magnitude California earthquake<\/a>, tornados in Louisiana, and a <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2022\/12\/21\/weather\/christmas-arctic-winter-storm-wednesday-wxn\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">\u201conce-in-a-generation\u201d<\/a> multi-state winter storm caused major damage to homes across the US and disrupted daily lives. As experts predict these events will continue to increase in severity and frequency, a new study led by a School of Public Health researcher is shedding new insight on the adverse health impacts that certain vulnerable populations experience following the loss of a home due to severe weather damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1111\/pcn.13322\" target=\"_blank\">Published in the<em> American Journal of Epidemiology<\/em><\/a>, the study found that individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds disproportionately experience disaster-related home loss\u2014and that they are more likely to be severely affected by home loss, namely by developing physical and mental functional limitations in the years after they lose their home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first-of-its-kind study builds upon previous research that has focused only on population-average data of home loss and adverse health effects; the new study identifies subgroups of vulnerable populations who are more likely to be severely affected by this traumatic experience. These include people who are older, not married, living alone, less educated, and unemployed, as well as those who had health problems prior to the losing their home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The researchers say that identifying populations at exceptionally high risk of post-disaster functional impairment may better inform resource allocation during disaster mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery efforts at the local and federal level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur study moved beyond the traditional finding on population-average effects and identified complex effect heterogeneity,\u201d says study lead and corresponding author Dr. Koichiro Shiba, assistant professor of epidemiology at Boston University School of Public Health. \u201cThese results help policymakers by providing insights on the impacts that disaster damages may have on health disparities, which analysis of population-average effects ignores. The results can also be used to identify which subpopulations need to be prioritized in post-disaster public health supports.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the study, Dr. Shiba and colleagues used machine learning methods to identify variations in the association between disaster-related trauma and functional limitations among a group of older survivors of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.livescience.com\/39110-japan-2011-earthquake-tsunami-facts.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami<\/a>. The 9.1-magnitude earthquake and 40-meter tsunami killed nearly 16,000 people and rendered more than 450,000 people homeless. The team used pre- and post-disaster survey data from the Iwanuma Study, part of a larger nationwide study of the living conditions of Japanese older adults, to measure individuals\u2019 functional limitations in 2013 and 2016 based on three indicators: standardized assessments of physical disability (such as whether someone can turn over in bed independently); the ability to accomplish daily activities independently (such as walking, bathing, going to the bathroom); and higher-level functional capacities (such as using public transportation).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The researchers found that individuals experiencing more severe functional limitations after home loss tended to have less education and more pre-disaster health problems, such as depression. But notably, they also found that these individuals had higher income prior to losing their home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One speculation for this finding could be explained by status inconsistency \u2013 \u201cwhere different aspects of social status contradict with each other and potentially magnify the adverse impacts of disaster-related home loss,\u201d Shiba explains. Previous studies have shown that higher-income people are also more likely to engage in excessive drinking, which could lead to limited functioning. Another explanation, he says, is that \u201cinstead of moving to a temporary housing village with other survivors, richer people might have been able to afford and relocate to private housing after home loss, which could result in loss of pre-existing social capital and support.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Understanding these underlying mechanisms resulting from home loss and other traumatic experiences will help inform more targeted public health interventions following the inevitable occurrence of future severe weather events, he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Major natural disasters such as last month\u2019s 6.4 magnitude California earthquake, tornados in Louisiana, and a \u201conce-in-a-generation\u201d multi-state winter storm caused major damage to homes across the US and disrupted daily lives. As experts predict these events will continue to increase in severity and frequency, a new study led by a School of Public Health [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15205,"featured_media":220652,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"natural disaster","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[3889,2366,2492,2261,3162,2070,2178,2550,3887],"bu-publication":[3516],"sphnews-article-category":[3519,3530,3531,3540],"sphnews-topic":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"profile_tax":[4000],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/220649"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15205"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220649"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/220649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":245592,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/220649\/revisions\/245592"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220649"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=220649"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-article-category?post=220649"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-topic?post=220649"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=220649"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=220649"},{"taxonomy":"profile_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_tax?post=220649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}