One year later: mental illness prevalence and disparities among New Orleans residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
OBJECTIVE
We examined whether there were high levels of mental illness among displaced New Orleans, LA, residents in the fall of 2006, 1 year after Hurricane Katrina.


METHODS
We used data from the Displaced New Orleans Residents Pilot Study, which measured the prevalence of probable mild or moderate and serious mental illness among a representative sample of people who resided in New Orleans at the time of the hurricane, including people who evacuated the city and did not return. We also analyzed disparities in mental illness by race, education, and income.


RESULTS
We found high rates of mental illness in our sample and major disparities in mental illness by race, education, and income. Severe damage to or destruction of an individual's home was a major covariate of mental illness.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of mental illness remained high in the year following Hurricane Katrina, in contrast to the pattern found after other disasters. Economic losses and displacement may account for this finding as well as the disparity in mental illness between Blacks and Whites.
Sastry
Narayan
N
Population Studies Center and Survey Research Center at Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 426 Thompson Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248, USA. nsastry@umich.edu
VanLandingham
Mark
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D055867:Cyclonic Storms; D005260:Female; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D008875:Middle Aged; D055820:New Orleans / Q000453:epidemiology; D010865:Pilot Projects; D044469:Racial Groups; D012036:Refugees / Q000523:psychology*; D012923:Social Class; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult