title: Characteristics of heart failure associated with the Great East Japan Earthquake.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  On March 11, 2011, the Tohoku district was struck by the most powerful known earthquake to hit Japan. Although stress-induced heart diseases rise after strong psychosocial stress, little is known about the characteristics of heart failure (HF) caused by psychosocial stress related to earthquakes.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined patients admitted to our hospital for HF during a three-week period between March 11 and March 31, 2011 (Disaster group) and compared them to patients during the corresponding period of 2010 (Non-Disaster group).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The number of patients was larger in the Disaster group (n=30, 18 men, 12 women; mean age 77.3±9.8 years) than in the Non-Disaster group (n=16, 8 men, 8 women; mean age 77.3±11.6 years). A total of 14 of 30 patients (46.7%) in the Disaster group did not have past history of admission for HF, compared to 2 patients (12.5%) in the Non-Disaster group (p=0.02). The number of patients with hypertension was larger in the Disaster group than in the Non-Disaster group (53.3% vs. 37.5%, p=0.04). The number of patients with atrial fibrillation was also larger in the Disaster group than in the Non-Disaster group (56.7% vs. 25.0%, p=0.03). Left ventricular systolic ejection fraction (EF) did not differ between the Disaster and Non-Disaster groups (45.2±17.8% vs. 45.6±14.0%, p=0.46), however, the proportion of patients whose EF was more than 45% were significantly higher in the Disaster group more than in the Non-Disaster group (56.7% vs. 43.8%, p=0.04). The in-hospital mortality rate for patients in the Disaster group was higher than in the Non-Disaster group (20.0% vs. 6.3%, p=0.04).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The incidence and in-hospital mortality rate of HF increased after the Great East Japan Earthquake, suggesting that psychosocial stress brought on by such a disaster could lead to the development of HF with preserved EF more than that with reduced EF.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Iwate Prefectural Central Hospital, Morioka, Iwate, Japan. AkihiroNakamura0223@msn.com
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Satake
authors.forename: Akiyo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.forename: Yuta
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kagaya
authors.forename: Katuya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kohzu
authors.forename: Kenjiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Sohta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nakajima
authors.forename: Shigefumi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fukui
authors.forename: Hideaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Endo
authors.forename: Tohru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Eiji
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nozaki
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tamaki
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D055866:Earthquakes; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000209:etiology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D013318:Stroke Volume
keywords: Earthquake; Heart failure; Japan; Stress