Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T17:11:25.288Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effects of the July 1997 Floods in the Czech Republic on Cardiac Mortality

Part of: Floods collection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 November 2014

Jana Obrová ,
Eliška Sovová ,
Kateřina Ivanová ,
Miloš Táborský  and
Svatopluk Loyka
Jana Obrová*
Affiliation:
Department of Internal Medicine I - Cardiology, University Hospital Olomouc, Olomouc, Czech Republic
Eliška Sovová
Affiliation:
Department of Internal Medicine I - Cardiology, University Hospital Olomouc, Olomouc, Czech Republic
Kateřina Ivanová
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University Olomouc, Department of Social Medicine and Health Policy, Olomouc, Czech Republic
Miloš Táborský
Affiliation:
Department of Internal Medicine I - Cardiology, University Hospital Olomouc, Olomouc, Czech Republic
Svatopluk Loyka
Affiliation:
Department of Forensic Medicine and Medical Law, Olomouc, Czech Republic
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Dr Jana Obrová, Department of Internal Medicine I - Cardiology, University Hospital Olomouc, Olomouc, Czech Republic (e-mail: [email protected]).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objective

An excess of deaths from cardiac causes are reported after many natural disasters. Despite the fact that floods are the most common and most destructive natural disaster worldwide, little is known about their effect on human health. We analyzed the influence of the greatest floods in the Czech Republic on cardiac mortality in the affected area.

Methods

This was a retrospective case-control study. We analyzed persons whose autopsies proved they had died of cardiac causes during the month of the flood, 2 months before the flood, 1 month after the flood, and during the same period in the 3 previous years.

Results

A total of 207 of 985 autopsy reports met the criteria for inclusion in the study. There were no significant differences in the proportions of men and women (P=0.819) or in age (P=0.577). During the month of the flood, an increase in cardiac mortality was observed; however, the increase was not statistically significant (P=0.088).

Conclusions

According to our findings, the 1997 Central European flood did not significantly affect cardiac mortality. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2014;8:492-496)

Keywords

floodscardiac mortalityvulnerable populations
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 8 , Issue 6 , December 2014 , pp. 492 - 496
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2014 

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. Guha-Sapir, D, Below, R, Hoyois, Ph. EM-DAT: International Disaster Database. www.emdat.be. Université Catholique de Louvain: Brussels, Belgium. Accessed January 8, 2014.Google Scholar
2. Povodně na Moravě a Odře (1997). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Povodn%C4%9B_na_Morav%C4%9B_a_Od%C5%99e_(1997). Accessed January 9, 2014.Google Scholar
3. Schwartz, BG, French, WJ, Mayeda, GS, et al. Emotional stressors trigger cardiovascular events. Int J Clin Pract. 2012;66(7):631-639.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4. Hemingway, H, Malik, M, Marmot, M. Social and psychosocial influences on sudden cardiac death, ventricular arrhythmia and cardiac autonomic fiction. Eur Heart J. 2001;22:1082-1101.Google Scholar
5. Muller, JE, Ludmer, PL, Willich, SN, et al. Circadian variation in the frequency of sudden cardiac death. Circulation. 1987;75:131-138.Google Scholar
6. Muller, JE. Circadian variation and triggering of acute coronary events. Am Heart J. 1999;137:1-8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7. Moller, J, Theorell, T, de Faire, U, et al. Work related stressful life events and the risk of myocardial infarction. Case-control and case-crossover analyses within the Stockholm heart epidemiology programme (SHEEP). J Epidemiol Community Health. 2005;59:23-30.Google Scholar
8. Kales, SN, Soteriades, ES, Christophi, CA, et al. Emergency duties and deaths from heart disease among firefighters in the United States. N Engl J Med. 2007;356:1207-1215.Google Scholar
9. Kaprio, J, Koskenvuo, M, Rita, H. Mortality after bereavement: a prospective study of 95,647 persons. Am J Public Health. 1987;77:283-287.Google Scholar
10. Parkes, CM. Effects of bereavement on physical and mental health: a study of the medical records of widows. Br Med J. 1964;2:274-279.Google Scholar
11. Kark, JD, Goldman, S, Epstein, L. Iraqi missile attacks on Israel: the association of mortality with a life-threatening stressor. JAMA. 1995;273:1208-1210.Google Scholar
12. Meisel, SR, Kutz, I, Dayan, KI, et al. Effects of Iraqi missile war on incidence of acute myocardial infarction and sudden death in Israeli civilians. Lancet. 1991;338:660-661.Google Scholar
13. Goldberg, RJ, Spencer, F, Lessard, D, et al. Occurrence of acute myocardial infarction in Worcester, Massachusetts, before, during, and after the terrorists attacks in New York City and Washington, DC, on 11 September 2001. Am J Cardiol. 2005;95:258-260.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
14. Shedd, OL, Sears, SF Jr, Harvill, JL, et al. The World Trade Center attack: increased frequency of defibrillator shocks for ventricular arrhythmias in patients living remotely from New York City. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2004;44:1265-1267.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
15. Steinberg, JS, Arshad, A, Kowalski, M, et al. Increased incidence of life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias in implantable defibrillator patients after the World Trade Center attack. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2004;44:1261-1264.Google Scholar
16. Ruidavets, JB, Paterniti, S, Bongard, V, et al. Triggering of acute coronary syndromes after a chemical plant explosion. Heart. 2006;92:257-258.Google Scholar
17. Trichopoulos, D, Katsouyanni, K, Zavitsanos, X, et al. Psychological stress and fatal heart attack: the Athens (1981) earthquake natural experiment. Lancet 1983;1:441-444.Google Scholar
18. Leor, J, Poole, WK, Kloner, RA. Sudden cardiac death triggered by an earthquake. N Engl J Med. 1996;334:413-419.Google Scholar
19. Ogawa, K, Tsuji, I, Shiono, K, et al. Increased acute myocardial infarction mortality following the 1995 Great Hanshim-Awaji earthquake in Japan. Int J Epidemiol. 2000;29(3):449-455.Google Scholar
20. Nozaki, E, Nakamura, A, Abe, A, et al. Occurrence of cardiovascular events after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami disaster. Int Heart J. 2013;54(5):247-253.Google Scholar
21. Aoki, T, Takahashi, J, Fukumoto, Y, et al. Effect of the Great East Japan Earthquake on cardiovascular diseases--report from the 10 hospitals in the disaster area. Circ J. 2013;77(2):490-493.Google Scholar
22. Nakamura, A, Satake, H, Abe, A, et al. Characteristics of heart failure associated with the Great East Japan Earthquake. J Cardiol. 2013;62(1):25-30.Google Scholar
23. Bennet, G. Bristol floods 1968. Controlled survey of effects on health of local community disaster. Br Med J. 1970;3:454-458.Google Scholar
24. Abrahams, MJ, Price, J, Whitlock, FA, et al. The Brisbane floods, January 1974: their impact on health. Med J Aust 1976;2(25-26):936-939.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
25. Lowe, D, Ebi, KL, Forsberg, B. Factors increasing vulnerability to health effects before, during and after floods. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2013;10(12):7015-7067.Google Scholar