Displacement and Mental Health After Natural Disasters

Correspondence
Displacement and was 33·27 months (SD 5·28, range for short-term crisis management
27·73–43·75). Experiencing personal services to those who are displaced.
mental health after and property damage during Hurricane Research reported in this letter was supported by
natural disasters Sandy continued to be positively The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
under award number U01-TP000573-01, the Office
associated with post-traumatic stress of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and
We read with interest the Article by disorder symptoms at follow-up Response under HITEP 150029-01-00, the
Alice Munro and colleagues,1 and have (adjusted OR 1·2, 95% CI 1·1–1·4). Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
under ASTHO 64-45471, the Stony Brook-Mount
observed similar results in a cohort of Of the 130 participants who were
Sinai Alliance Pilot Project, and a private gift given
1615 New York residents affected by re-interviewed, 50 (38%) were to Northwell Health. The funders of the study had
Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Participants displaced because of Hurricane no role in study design, data collection, data
completed a questionnaire that Sandy. At baseline, displacement analysis, data interpretation, or writing of the
report. The corresponding author had full access to
measured mental health symptoms, was statistically significantly all the data in the study and had final responsibility
Hurricane Sandy exposure, and associated with post-traumatic for the decision to submit for publication. We
displacement. The PHQ-4 depression stress disorder symptoms (adjusted declare no competing interests.
scale was used to assess symptoms OR 3·72, 95% CI 1·47–9·42), but not Copyright © The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.
This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0
of generalised anxiety disorder and with anxiety or depression. At follow-
license.
depression, the Post-Traumatic Stress up, displacement was not statistically
Disorder Checklist-Specific was used significantly associated with symptoms Rebecca M Schwartz, Bian Liu,
to assess symptoms of probable post- of anxiety (1·52, 0·65–3·59), depression Wil Lieberman-Cribbin,
traumatic stress disorder specific to (1·32, 0·52–3·34), or post-traumatic *Emanuela Taioli
[email protected]
Hurricane Sandy, and the Perceived stress disorder (1·23, 0·46–3·32).4 The
Stress Scale was implemented as a results suggest an attenuated mental Department of Occupational Medicine,
Epidemiology and Prevention, Hofstra Northwell
general measure of perceived stress.2 health effect of displacement 2–3 years Health School of Medicine, Great Neck, NY, USA
The mean time since Hurricane Sandy after Hurricane Sandy. Longitudinal (RMS); and Department of Population Health
was 14·47 months (SD 3·26, range studies with larger samples might be Science, Policy and Institute for Translational
Epidemiology, and Mount Sinai Center for Trauma,
11·81–27·93). In this cohort, displaced better powered to detect the effect of Disaster Mental Health and Resilience, Icahn School
participants (729 [45%]) were more displacement on the mental health of of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029,
likely to have symptoms of post- those affected by hurricanes. USA (RMS, BL, WL-C, ET)
traumatic stress disorder (adjusted We recognise the importance 1 Munro A, Kovats RS, Rubin GJ, et al. Effect of
evacuation and displacement on the association
odds ratio [OR] 2·21, 95% CI 1·73–2·82), of understanding the impact of between flooding and mental health outcomes:
depression (1·37, 1·05–1·79), anxiety displacement and exposure on short- a cross-sectional analysis of UK survey data.
Lancet Planet Health 2017; 1: e134–41.
(1·30, 1·01–1·67), and increased term and long-term mental health
2 Schwartz RM, Sison C, Kerath SM, et al. The
perceived stress (β value 1·16, symptoms, and concur with Munro and impact of Hurricane Sandy on the mental
SE 0·38) compared with non-displaced colleagues1 that mental health services health of New York area residents.
Am J Disaster Med 2015; 10: 339–46.
participants, after adjusting for age, should be strengthened for those
3 Schwartz RM, Rasul R, Kerath S, et al.
sex, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education, who are displaced because of natural Displacement during Hurricane Sandy:
previous mental health conditions, and disasters, such as Hurricane Sandy in the impact on mental health. J Emerg Manag
(in press).
time since Hurricane Sandy.3 the USA or the extensive flooding in 4 Schwartz RM, Gillezeau CN, Liu B, Lieberman-
We have since re-interviewed England. Additionally, there are many Cribbin W, Taioli E. Longitudinal impact of
130 participants from the original potential disaster preparedness policy Hurricane Sandy exposure on mental health
symptoms. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2017;
cohort in a follow-up study.4 The implications that can be drawn from this 14: E957.
mean time since Hurricane Sandy research, including increasing funding
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