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. 2021 Feb 26;26(1):27.
doi: 10.1186/s12199-021-00944-2.

The prevalence of psychological distress during pregnancy in Miyagi Prefecture for 3 years after the Great Eas t Japan Earthquake

Kaou Tanoue  1 , Zen Watanabe  1 , Hidekazu Nishigori  1   2   3 , Noriyuki Iwama  1 , Michihiro Satoh  4 , Takahisa Murakami  4 , Kousuke Tanaka  1   5 , Satomi Sasaki  1 , Kasumi Sakurai  2 , Mami Ishikuro  2   6 , Taku Obara  2   6   7 , Masatoshi Saito  1 , Junichi Sugawara  1   2 , Nozomi Tatsuta  2 , Shinichi Kuriyama  2   6 , Takahiro Arima  2 , Kunihiko Nakai  2 , Nobuo Yaegashi  1   2   6 , Hirohito Metoki  8   9   10 ; Japan Environment and Children’s Study (JECS) Group
Affiliations

The prevalence of psychological distress during pregnancy in Miyagi Prefecture for 3 years after the Great Eas t Japan Earthquake

Kaou Tanoue et al. Environ Health Prev Med. .

Abstract

Background: To examine changes in psychological distress prevalence among pregnant women in Miyagi Prefecture, which was directly affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, and compare it with the other, less damaged areas of Japan.

Methods: This study was conducted in conjunction with the Japan Environment and Children`s Study. We examined 76,152 pregnant women including 8270 in Miyagi Regional Center and 67,882 in 13 other regional centers from the all-birth fixed data of the Japan Environment and Children's Study. We then compared the prevalence and risk of distress in women in Miyagi Regional Center and women in the 13 regional centers for 3 years after the disaster.

Results: Women in the Miyagi Regional Center suffered more psychological distress than those in the 13 regional centers: OR 1.38 (95% CI, 1.03-1.87) to 1.92 (95% CI, 1.42-2.60). Additionally, women in the inland area had a consistently higher prevalence of psychological distress compared to those from the 13 regional centers: OR 1.67 (95% CI, 1.18-2.38) to 2.19 (95% CI, 1.60-2.99).

Conclusions: The lack of pre-disaster data in the Japan Environment and Children's Study made it impossible to compare the incidence of psychological distress before and after the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. However, 3 years after the Great East Japan Earthquake, the prevalence of pregnant women with psychological distress did not improve in Miyagi Regional Center. Further, the prevalence of mental illness in inland areas was consistently higher than that in the 13 regional centers after the disaster.

Keywords: Earthquake; Negative life events; Pregnant women; Psychological distress; Tsunami.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest directly relevant to the content of this study.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Location of 15 Regional Centers in Japan and location of the JECS area in Miyagi Prefecture for the Japan Environmental and Children's Study
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Participants flow diagram
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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