Factors increasing vulnerability to health effects before, during and after floods

Abstract

Identifying the risk factors for morbidity and mortality effects pre-, during and post-flood may aid the appropriate targeting of flood-related adverse health prevention strategies. We conducted a systematic PubMed search to identify studies examining risk factors for health effects of precipitation-related floods, among Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) member countries. Research identifying flood-related morbidity and mortality risk factors is limited and primarily examines demographic characteristics such as age and gender. During floods, females, elderly and children appear to be at greater risk of psychological and physical health effects, while males between 10 to 29 years may be at greater risk of mortality. Post-flood, those over 65 years and males are at increased risk of physical health effects, while females appear at greater risk of psychological health effects. Other risk factors include previous flood experiences, greater flood depth or flood trauma, existing illnesses, medication interruption, and low education or socio-economic status. Tailoring messages to high-risk groups may increase their effectiveness. Target populations differ for morbidity and mortality effects, and differ pre-, during, and post-flood. Additional research is required to identify the risk factors associated with pre- and post-flood mortality and post-flood morbidity, preferably using prospective cohort studies.

Figure 1

Factors increasing vulnerability to health effects of floods before, during and after flooding.

Figure 2

Severity, frequency and impact of extreme hydrological weather events. We focused on extreme precipitation-related flood events that are sometimes compounded by snow and ice melt e.g., severe torrential rain, flash and riverine flooding, (bolded) and excluded minor flooding events and those accompanying extreme wind or tides (greyed). The diamond size illustrates the typical magnitude of the morbidity or mortality impact [1,16,17].

Figure 3

Number of studies identified for each OECD country. NB There were studies of Europe and US [48] and worldwide [1] that are not illustrated.

Figure 4

Risk factors increasing vulnerability to health effects before flood events.

Figure 5

Factors increasing vulnerability to health effects during-flood events.

Figure 6

Factors increasing vulnerability to health effects post-flood events.