American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 153, No. 2 : 153-156
Copyright © 2001 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health
ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS |
Factors Associated with Earthquake Deaths in the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, 1995
From the Department of Epidemiology, National Institute of Public Health, 461 Shirokanedai, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8638, Japan (e-mail: yoneatsu{at}grape.med.tottori-u.ac.jp).
The authors conducted descriptive and case-control studies to find factors associated with earthquake deaths due to the Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake on January 17, 1995, in Nishinomiya, Japan. In the case-control study, cases included all 1,104 deaths. Controls were randomly selected from survivors. Earthquake mortality increased for people over age 50 years. Mortality among people who had lived in dwellings that were completely destroyed was much higher. One risk factor was physical disabilities (odds ratio = 1.9, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.0, 3.4). When the analysis was limited to the people who had lived in intact or partially destroyed dwellings, the odds ratio rose to 5.6 (95% CI: 1.6, 19.8).
case-control studies; mortality; multivariate analysis; natural disasters; risk factors