title: Impact of the great east Japan earthquake on the body mass index of preschool children: a nationwide nursery school survey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the impact of the 2011 great east Japan earthquake on body mass index (BMI) of preschool children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective cohort study and ecological study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Affected prefectures (Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate) and unaffected prefectures in northeast Japan.
  
  
  METHODS
  The cohort study assessed 2033 and 1707 boys and 1909 and 1658 girls in 3 affected prefectures and unaffected prefectures, respectively, all aged 3-4 years at the time of the earthquake. The ecological study examined random samples of schoolchildren from the affected prefectures.
  
  
  METHODS
  The cohort study compared postdisaster changes in BMIs and the prevalence of overweight and obese children. The ecological study evaluated postdisaster changes in the prevalence of overweight children.
  
  
  RESULTS
  1 month after the earthquake, significantly increased BMIs were observed among girls (+0.087 kg/m(2) vs unaffected prefectures) in Fukushima and among boys and girls (+0.165 and +0.124 kg/m(2), respectively vs unaffected prefectures) in Iwate. 19 months after the earthquake, significantly increased BMIs were detected among boys and girls (+0.137 and +0.200 kg/m(2), respectively vs unaffected prefectures) in Fukushima, whereas significantly decreased BMIs were observed among boys and girls (-0.218 and -0.082 kg/m(2), respectively vs unaffected prefectures) in Miyagi. 1 month after the earthquake, Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate had a slightly increased prevalence of overweight boys, whereas Fukushima had a slightly decreased prevalence of overweight girls, compared with the unaffected prefectures. The ecological study detected increases in the prevalence of overweight boys and girls in Fukushima who were 6-11 and 6-10 years of age, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that in the affected prefectures, preschool children gained weight immediately after the earthquake. The long-term impact of the earthquake on early childhood growth was more variable among the affected prefectures, possibly as a result of different speeds of recovery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, University of Yamanashi, Yamanashi, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yokomichi
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Medicine and Health Education, Peking University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Disaster Public Health, International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Miyagi, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsubara
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology, Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Miyagi, Japan.
authors.forename: Mami
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ishikuro
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology, Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Miyagi, Japan.
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kikuya
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Tsuyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Isojima
authors.affiliation: Center for Clinical Research Data, National Center for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Susumu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yokoya
authors.affiliation: Japanese Association for Human Auxology, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshiaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.affiliation: Department of Early Childhood Care and Education, Jumonji University, Saitama, Japan.
authors.forename: Noriko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Iwate Medical University, Iwate, Japan.
authors.forename: Shoichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chida
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ono
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Mitsuaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hosoya
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Tohoku University, Miyagi, Japan.
authors.forename: Soichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.affiliation: Department of Disaster Public Health, International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Miyagi, Japan Department of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology, Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Miyagi, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kuriyama
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Tohoku University, Miyagi, Japan.
authors.forename: Shigeo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kure
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, University of Yamanashi, Yamanashi, Japan.
authors.forename: Zentaro
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yamagata
mesh_terms: D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004032:Diet; D004190:Disasters; D055866:Earthquakes; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D062406:Fukushima Nuclear Accident; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012931:Social Environment; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D015430:Weight Gain
keywords: Fukushima nuclear accident; body mass index; earthquake; growth; preschool child