title: Prevalence of mental disorders and suicidal thoughts among community-dwelling elderly adults 3 years after the niigata-chuetsu earthquake.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Japan is located in an area prone to natural disasters, and major earthquakes have occurred recently in rural areas where the proportion of elderly adults is high. Although elderly persons are vulnerable members of communities at a time of disaster, the prevalence of mental disorders among this population has yet to be reported in Japan. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of mental disorders and suicidal thoughts among community-dwelling elderly persons 3 years after an earthquake and to identify risk factors associated with their quality of life (QOL).
  
  
  METHODS
  Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 496 community-dwelling persons aged 65 years or older in areas of Japan where 2 major earthquakes had occurred during a 3-year period. The main outcome was diagnosis of a mental disorder or suicidality.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During the 3-year period after the earthquake, 1.6% of men and 5.5% of women had received a diagnosis of major depression. There were no cases of posttraumatic stress disorder. Women were more likely than men to report suicidality (7.8% vs 3.8%, P = 0.075).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of mental disorders was lower than that reported in previous studies. Despite the low prevalence of mental disorders, the percentage of community-dwelling elderly persons with subclinical mental health symptoms was high. The results indicate that appropriate public health and medical interventions are warranted after a natural disaster.
authors.affiliation: Department of Adult Mental Health, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, NCNP, 4-1-1 Ogawa-Higashi, Kodaira, Tokyo 187-8553, Japan. yrsuzuki@ncnp.go.jp
authors.forename: Yuriko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Atsuro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tsutsumi
authors.forename: Maiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fukasawa
authors.forename: Hiroko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Honma
authors.forename: Toshiyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Someya
authors.forename: Yoshiharu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D004190:Disasters; D055866:Earthquakes; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D015995:Prevalence; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011788:Quality of Life; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D059020:Suicidal Ideation; D013997:Time Factors