""We had this unusual natural experiment where we had all the information about people's lifestyle and health behaviors before the earthquake, and we could track people afterwards," said Kawachi, the John L. Loeb and Frances Lehman Loeb Professor of Social Epidemiology at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "It turned into a follow-up study of disaster survivors.""
""Overweight and obesity rates increased from 25 percent before the earthquake to 35 percent among people who lost their homes, whereas it remained pretty much level among people who did not experience this kind of asset loss," Kawachi explained. "That was a big surprise for us.""
"Rates of drinking and smoking also increased for people who experienced heavy damage to their homes."
A cohort established in Iwanuma, Japan, in 2010 aimed to measure predictors of healthy aging. Seven months later a magnitude 9.1 earthquake and tsunami struck 50 miles from the field site, causing widespread destruction. Pre-disaster lifestyle and health behavior data allowed tracking of survivors after the event. People who suffered housing damage or destruction showed significant increases in obesity and metabolic syndrome. Overweight and obesity rates rose from 25 percent to 35 percent among those who lost homes, while remaining stable among others. Rates of drinking and smoking also increased among people with heavy housing damage. Cognitive bias is suggested as a potential contributor to increased risky behaviors.
Read at Harvard Gazette
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