Alterations in physique among young children after the Great East Japan Earthquake: Results from a nationwide survey

作者：Kikuya Masahiro^*; Matsubara Hiroko; Ishikuro Mami; Sato Yuki; Obara Taku; Metoki Hirohito; Isojima Tsuyoshi; Yokoya Susumu; Kato Noriko; Tanaka Toshiaki; Chida Shoichi; Ono Atsushi; Hosoya Mitsuaki; Yokomichi Hiroshi; Yamagata Zentaro; Tanaka Soichiro; Kure Shigeo; Kuriyama Shinichi

来源：Journal of Epidemiology, 2017, 27(10): 462-468.

DOI：10.1016/j.je.2016.09.012

• Earthquake
• Tsunami
• Physical growth
• Childhood obesity

Background: Data for earthquake-related alterations in physique among young children in developed countries is lacking. The Great East Japan Earthquake caused severe damage in Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima Prefectures in northeastern Japan.
Methods: We retrospectively obtained anthropometric measurements in nursery school from 40,046 (cohort 1, historical control) and 53,492 (cohort 2) children aged 3.5-4.5 years without overweight in October 2008, and in October 2010, respectively. At the time of the earthquake in March, 2011, children in cohort 1 had already graduated from nursery school; however, children in cohort 2 were still enrolled in nursery school at this time. We compared the onset of overweight at 1 year after the baseline between children enrolled in their school located in one of the three target prefectures versus those in other prefectures using a logistic regression model, with adjustment for sex, age, history of disease, and obesity index at baseline. Overweight was defined as an obesity index of > +15%, which was calculated as (weight minus sex-and height-specific standard weight)/sex-and height-specific standard weight.
Results: The odds ratio (OR) for the onset of overweight in the three target prefectures was significant in cohort 2 (OR 1.25; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01-1.55) but not in cohort 1. When the two cohort were pooled (n = 93,538), the OR of the interaction term for school location x cohort was significant (OR 1.56; 95% CI, 1.09-2.23).
Conclusions: Incident overweight in young children was significantly more common in the three prefectures affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake than in other prefectures after the disaster.

• 出版日期2017-10