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Five-year blood pressure trajectories of survivors of the tsunami following the Great East Japan Earthquake in Iwate

Hypertension Research volume 44, pages 581–590 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

Whether tsunami survivors who suffered substantial damage experienced increases in blood pressure (BP) immediately after the disaster and in the medium to long term is unclear. We divided tsunami survivors into groups, those who relocated (substantial damage) and those who did not (little damage) and compared the BP trajectories between the groups over the first 5 years after the disaster. Of the 42,831 residents, 3914 were assessed from 2010 to 2015. Subgroup analysis was performed among the 2037 subjects with no information on antihypertensive medications between 2010 and 2015 (no antihypertensive medication group). The BP trajectories in the relocation and no relocation groups were compared using linear mixed models. The multivariate-adjusted mean systolic BP (SBP) values for all subjects significantly decreased after the disaster in both the group who relocated (2010: 130.6 mmHg, 2015: 124.8 mmHg) and the group who did not relocate (2010: 130.7 mmHg, 2015: 126.7 mmHg). The interaction between relocation and time points on SBP was significant (P = 0.017). In the no antihypertensive medication group, the SBP values in the subgroup who relocated were significantly lower in the second, third, and fifth years after the disaster than those in the subgroup who did not relocate. It was concluded that the SBP values of survivors of the tsunami caused by Great East Japan Earthquake decreased in the medium to long term after the disaster, and the group who relocated had a larger decrease in SBP than the group who did not relocate.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by a Grant in Aid from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Health and Labor Sciences Research Grants, Japan (H23-Tokubetsu-Shitei-002; H24-Kenki-Shitei-001, H25-Kenki-Shitei-001(Fukkou)).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Critical Care, Disaster and General Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Iwate Medical University School of Medicine, Morioka, Iwate, Japan

    Tomohiro Takahashi & Osamu Shimooki

  2. Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Iwate Medical University School of Medicine, Morioka, Iwate, Japan

    Fumitaka Tanaka

  3. Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, Iwate Medical University School of Medicine, Morioka, Iwate, Japan

    Haruki Shimoda, Kozo Tanno & Kiyomi Sakata

  4. Department of Medical Education, Basic Medicine, Iwate Medical University School of Medicine, Morioka, Iwate, Japan

    Shuko Takahashi

  5. Department of Nursing Informatics, Graduate School of Nursing Science, St. Luke’s International University, Tokyo, Japan

    Yuki Yonekura

  6. Department of Neurosurgery, Iwate Medical University School of Medicine, Morioka, Iwate, Japan

    Akira Ogawa

  7. Department of Plastic, Aesthetic, and Reconstructive Surgery, Iwate Medical University School of Medicine, Morioka, Iwate, Japan

    Seiichiro Kobayashi

  8. Department of Internal Medicine, Iwate Medical University School of Medicine, Morioka, Iwate, Japan

    Motoyuki Nakamura

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  1. Tomohiro Takahashi
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Correspondence to Tomohiro Takahashi.

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Takahashi, T., Tanaka, F., Shimoda, H. et al. Five-year blood pressure trajectories of survivors of the tsunami following the Great East Japan Earthquake in Iwate. Hypertens Res 44, 581–590 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41440-020-00607-9

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