Re-Increased Male Suicide Rates in the Recovery Phase Following the Great East Japan Earthquake
A 7-Year Follow-Up Study in Miyagi Prefecture
Abstract
Abstract.Background: Monitoring of suicide rates in the recovery phase following a devastating disaster has been limited. Aim: We report on a 7-year follow-up of the suicide rates in the area affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, which occurred in March 2011. Method: This descriptive study covered the period from March 2009 to February 2018. Period analysis was used to divide the 108-month study period into nine segments, in which suicide rates were compared with national averages using Poisson distribution. Results: Male suicide rates in the affected area from March 2013 to February 2014 increased to a level higher than the national average. After subsequently dropping, the male rates from March 2016 to February 2018 re-increased and showed a greater difference compared with the national averages. The difference became significant in the period from March 2017 to February 2018 (p = .047). Limitations: Specific reasons for increasing the rates in the recovery phase were not determined. Conclusion: The termination of the provision of free temporary housing might be influential in this context. Provision of temporary housing was terminated from 2016, which increased economic hardship among needy evacuees. Furthermore, disruption of the social connectedness in the temporary housing may have had an influence. Our findings suggest the necessity of suicide rate monitoring even in the recovery phase.
References
(2003). An ecological study of the relations between the recent high suicide rates and economic and demographic factors in Japan. Journal of Epidemiology, 13(1), 56–61.
(2010). Long-term suicide mortality rates decrease in men and increase in women after the Niigata-Chuetsu earthquake in Japan. Tohoku Journal of Experimental Medicine, 220, 149–155.
(2003). Psychological effects of the November 1999 earthquake in Turkey: An epidemiological study. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 108, 232–238.
(2013). Natural disasters and suicidal behaviours: A systematic literature review. Journal of Affective Disorders, 146(1), 1–14. 10.1016/j.jad.2012.07.037
(2014). Social support improves mental health among the victims relocated to temporary housing following the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. Tohoku. Journal of Experimental Medicine, 234(3), 241–247.
(2008). The suicide mortality rates between 1997–1998 and 2000–2001 in Nantou County of Taiwan following the earthquake of September 21 in 1999. Journal of Forensic Science, 53(1), 199–202.
(2010). Trauma and natural disasters: The case of earthquakes in Greece. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 15, 138–150.
(2013). Natural disasters and suicide: Evidence from Japan. Social Science & Medicine, 82, 126–133. 10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.12.021
(2015). Follow-up study of the general and mental health of people living in temporary housing at 10 and 20 months after the Great East Japan Earthquake. Japanese Journal of Nursing Science, 12(2), 162–165. 10.1111/jjns.12051
(2019). The Impact of Suicide Prevention Act (2006) on suicides in Japan. Crisis, 8, 1–8. 10.1027/0227-5910/a000599
(2009). Influence on the suicide rate two years after a devastating disaster: A report from the 1995 Great Hanshin–Awaji Earthquake. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 63(2), 247–250. 10.1111/j.1440-1819.2009.01942.x
(2014). Changes in suicide rates in disaster-stricken areas following the Great East Japan Earthquake and their effect on economic factors: An ecological study. Environmental Health and Preventative Medicine, 19(6), 459–466. 10.1007/s12199-014-0418-2
(2015). Delayed increase in male suicide rates in tsunami disaster-stricken areas following the great east Japan earthquake: A three-year follow-up study in Miyagi Prefecture. Tohoku Journal of Experimental Medicine, 235(3), 215–222. 10.1620/tjem.235.215
(2018). Mental health recovery of evacuees and residents from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident after seven years – contribution of social network and a desirable lifestyle. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(11), 2381. 10.3390/ijerph15112381
(2011). Psychosocial impact of the summer 2007 floods in England. BMC Public Health, 11, 145. 10.1186/1471-2458-11-145
(2007). Study on the change of characteristic of residential space and the social "isolation" of residents of the disaster restoration public housing (in Japanese). Journal of Architectural Planning, 72(611), 109–116. 10.3130/aija.72.109_1
(2017). Impact of social capital on psychological distress and interaction with house destruction and displacement after the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 71, 52–60.
(2006). Survey of quality of life and related risk factors for a Taiwanese village population 3 years post-earthquake. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 40, 355–361.
(2008). Suicide mortality of young, middle-aged and elderly males and females in Japan four the years 1953–96: Time series analysis four the effects of unemployment, female labour force, young and aged population, primary industry and population density. Industrial Health, 46, 541–549.
