Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T02:18:43.709Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Clinical Utility of Makeshift Beds in Disaster Shelters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2013

Masayuki Nara ,
Shinsaku Ueda ,
Masashi Aoki ,
Tsutomu Tamada ,
Takuhiro Yamaguchi  and
Michio Hongo
Masayuki Nara*
Affiliation:
Department of Comprehensive Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan
Shinsaku Ueda
Affiliation:
Department of Thoracic Surgery, Japanese Red Cross Ishinomaki Hospital, Ishinomaki, Miyagi, Japan
Masashi Aoki
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan
Tsutomu Tamada
Affiliation:
Department of Respiratory Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan
Takuhiro Yamaguchi
Affiliation:
Division of Biostatistics, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan
Michio Hongo
Affiliation:
Department of Comprehensive Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Masayuki Nara, MD, PhD, Department of Comprehensive Medicine, Tohoku University School of Medicine, 1-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8574, Japan (e-mail [email protected]).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objective

Strong earthquakes have been reported to increase the incidence of diseases. One reason for these increases may be the stress from the poor living environment for evacuees in disaster shelters. To reduce stress, makeshift cardboard beds were introduced in shelters in the Ishinomaki region, one of the areas heavily damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake, 4 months after the earthquake. The study was performed to determine whether use of the beds offered a reduction in the disease burden.

Methods

Blood pressure and blood D-dimer values, often used as diagnostic tests for venous thrombosis, were checked. The timed Up & Go (TUG) test, which assesses functional mobility; a questionnaire survey about symptoms (cough, insomnia, and lumbago); and an SF-8 health survey, a health-related quality of life survey, were also administered before and 1 month after introducing the beds.

Results

Blood pressure measurements, TUG test results, and questionnaire survey scores improved significantly 1 month after the introduction of the beds. Also, evacuees with higher blood D-dimer values tended to show improvement, suggesting that the beds may have had a good effect on persons with underlying venous thrombotic disorders.

Conclusion

Makeshift beds of cardboard could be very useful in disaster shelters. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2013;7:573–577)

Keywords

cardboardSF-8the Great East Japan Earthquake
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 7 , Issue 6 , December 2013 , pp. 573 - 577
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. National Police Agency of Japan. Damage situation associated with the Great East Japan Earthquake (in Japanese). Kaiko to Tenbo. 2012.Google Scholar
2. Nakagawa, I, Nakamura, K, Oyama, M, etal. Long-term effects of Niigata-Chuetsu earthquake in Japan on acute myocardial infarction mortality: an analysis of death certificate data. Heart. 2009;95:2009-2013.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3. Kario, K, Ohashi, T. After major earthquake, stroke death occurs more frequently than coronary heart disease death in very elderly subjects. J Am Geriat Soc. 1998;46:537-538.Google Scholar
4. Takakura, R, Himeno, S, Kanayama, Y, etal. Follow-up after the Hanshin-Awaji earthquake: diverse influences on pneumonia, bronchial asthma, peptic ulcer and diabetes mellitus. Intern Med. 1997;36:87-91.Google Scholar
5. Kario, K, Matsuo, T, Kayaba, K, Soukejima, S, Kagamimori, S, Shimada, K. Earthquake-induced cardiovascular disease and related risk factors in focusing on the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. J Epidemiol. 1998;8:131-139.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6. Kario, K, Ohashi, T. Increased coronary heart disease mortality after Hanshin-Awaji earthquake among the aged community on the Awaji Island. J Am Geriatr Soc. 1997;45:610-613.Google Scholar
7. Simpson, K. Shelter death from pulmonary embolism. Lancet. 1940;236:744.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8. The Sphere Project. Minimum standards in shelter, settlement and non-food items. In The Sphere Project Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response. Oxford, UK: Oxfam Publishing: The Sphere Project; 2004: chap 4.Google Scholar
9. Becker, DM, Philbrick, JT, Bachhuber, TL, Humphries, JE. D-dimer testing and acute venous thromboembolism: a shortcut to accurate diagnosis? Arch Intern Med. 1996;156:939-946.Google Scholar
10. Dempfile, C, Schraml, M, Besenthal, I, etal. Multicentre evaluation of a new point-of-care test for the quantitative determination of D-dimer. Clin Chim Acta. 2001;307:211-218.Google Scholar
11. Podsiadlo, D, Richardson, S. The timed “Up & Go”: a test of basic functional mobility for frail elderly persons. J Am Geriatr Soc. 1991;39:142-148.Google Scholar
12. Fukuhara, S, Suzukamo, Y. Manual of the SF-8 Japanese Version. Kyoto, Japan: Institute for Health Outcomes and Process Evaluation Research; 2004.Google Scholar
13. Stein, PD, Hull, RD, Patel, KC. D-dimer for the exclusion of acute venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. Ann Intern Med. 2004;140:589-602.Google Scholar
14. Kato, H, Asukai, N, Miyake, Y, Minakawa, K, Nishiyama, A. Post-traumatic symptoms among younger and elderly evacuees in the early stages following the 1995 Hanshin-Awaji earthquake in Japan. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 1996;93:477-481.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
15. Kario, K. Disaster hypertension: its characteristics, mechanism, and management. Circ J. 2012;76:553-562.Google Scholar
16. Gangwisch, JE, Heymsfield, SB, Boden-Albala, B. Short sleep duration as a risk factor for hypertension: analyses of the first national health and nutrition examination survey. Hypertension. 2006;47:833-839.Google Scholar
17. Ueda, S, Hanzawa, K, Shibata, M, Suzuki, S. High prevalence of deep vein thrombosis in tsunami-flooded shelters established after the Great East-Japan Earthquake. Tohoku J Exp Med. 2012;227:199-202.Google Scholar
18. Briggs, SM. Earthquakes. Surg Clin North Am. 2006;86:537-544.Google Scholar