Impact of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami on pneumonia hospitalisations and mortality among adults in northern Miyagi, Japan: a multicentre observational study

Author(s)
Daito, H., Suzuki, M., Shiihara, J., Kilgore, P. E., Ohtomo, H., Morimoto, K., Ishida, M., Kamigaki, T., Oshitani, H., Hashizume, M., Endo, W., Hagiwara, K., Ariyoshi, K. and Okinaga, S.
Publication language
English
Pages
7pp
Date published
01 Jan 2013
Publisher
Thorax
Type
Articles
Keywords
Disasters, Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Health
Countries
Japan
Link
http://thorax.bmj.com/content/68/6/544.full.pdf

Background: On 11 March 2011, the Tohoku
earthquake and tsunami struck off the coast of
northeastern Japan. Within 3 weeks, an increased
number of pneumonia admissions and deaths occurred
in local hospitals.
Methods: A multicentre survey was conducted at three
hospitals in Kesennuma City (population 74 000),
northern Miyagi Prefecture. All adults aged ≥18 years
hospitalised between March 2010 and June 2011 with
community-acquired pneumonia were identified using
hospital databases and medical records. Segmented
regression analyses were used to quantify changes in the
incidence of pneumonia.