Impact of a humanmade disaster on the utilization pattern of a psychiatric emergency service.
In May 1980, Liberty City Miami, a black area, suffered a humanmade disaster: a riot. The effects of the riot on the utilization pattern of the only psychiatric emergency service (PES) for the Liberty City catchment area were studied in two ways: autocorrelation and cross-correlation analyses were used to determine whether PES presentations demonstrated a 7-day cycle and whether this cycle was disturbed by the riot; and analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were used to compare numerically the riot week to the preceding week, the riot week to the following 12 weeks, and the 12 pre-riot weeks to the 12 post-riot weeks. Black PES presentations did not demonstrate a statistically discernable cycle, and none of the ANOVAs were statistically significant. It was concluded that the riot did not have a significant psychiatric morbidity effect as measured by PES presentation data. These results are discussed in reference to previous disaster studies.
Fishbain
D A
DA
Department of Psychiatry, University of Miami School of Medicine, Florida.
Aldrich
T E
TE
Goldberg
M
M
Duncan
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RC
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002391:Catchment Area, Health; D004190:Disasters; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004637:Emergency Services, Psychiatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005431:Florida / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012107:Research Design / Q000592:standards; D012305:Riots; D014505:Urban Population