title: Longitudinal changes in body mass index of children affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake.
abstract: The evacuation and disruption in housing caused by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and following nuclear radiation may have influenced child health in many respects. However, studies regarding longitudinal childhood growth are limited. Therefore, in this study we aimed to explore the influence of the earthquake on longitudinal changes in body mass index in preschool children.
  
  
  
  Participants were children from nursery schools who cooperated with the study in the Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures. The exposed group consisted of children who experienced the earthquake during their preschool-age period (4-5 years old). The historical control group included children who were born 2 years earlier than the exposed children in the same prefectures. Trajectories regarding body mass index and prevalence of overweight/obesity were compared between the two groups using multilevel analysis. Differences in the changes in BMI between before and after the earthquake, and proportion of overweight/obesity was compared between the two groups. We also conducted subgroup analysis by defining children with specific personal disaster experiences within the exposed group.
  
  
  
  A total of 9722 children were included in the study. Children in the exposed group had higher body mass indices and a higher proportion of overweight after the earthquake than the control group. These differences were more obvious when confined to exposed children with specific personal disaster experiences.
  
  
  
  Children's growth and development-related health issues such as increased BMI after natural disasters should evoke great attention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Medicine and Health Education, School of Public Health, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, China.|Department of Health Sciences, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Medicine and Engineering, University of Yamanashi, Chuo, Japan.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Medicine and Engineering, University of Yamanashi, Chuo, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-7369-155X
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yokomichi
authors.affiliation: International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsubara
authors.affiliation: Department of Biobank, Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ishikuro
authors.affiliation: Department of Biobank, Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kikuya
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Isojima
authors.affiliation: Center for Clinical Research Data, National Center for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yokoya
authors.affiliation: Japanese Association for Human Auxology, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion, National institute of Public Health, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Iwate Medical University, Morioka, Japan.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chida
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, Japan.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ono
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hosoya
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.affiliation: International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kuriyama
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kure
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Medicine and Engineering, University of Yamanashi, Chuo, Japan.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yamagata
mesh_terms: D015992:Body Mass Index; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004032:Diet; D004190:Disasters; D055866:Earthquakes; D005260:Female; D062406:Fukushima Nuclear Accident; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012931:Social Environment; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015430:Weight Gain