Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-27gpq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T13:09:33.245Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake on Regional Obstetrical Care in Miyagi Prefecture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2016

Junichi Sugawara*
Affiliation:
Division of Feto-Maternal Medical Science, Department of Community Medical Support, Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
Tetsuro Hoshiai
Affiliation:
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
Kazuyo Sato
Affiliation:
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Iwate Prefectural Chubu Hospital, Kitakami, Japan
Hideki Tokunaga
Affiliation:
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
Hidekazu Nishigori
Affiliation:
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
Takanari Arai
Affiliation:
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Keijyu Hospital, Kanazawa, Japan
Kunihiro Okamura
Affiliation:
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tohoku Kohsai Hospital, Sendai, Japan
Nobuo Yaegashi
Affiliation:
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
*
Correspondence: Junichi Sugawara, MD, PhD Division of Feto-Maternal Medical Science Department of Community Medical Support Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan E-mail: jsugawara@med.tohoku.ac.jp

Abstract

Objectives

The authors report the results of surveys on the emergency transport or evacuation status of obstetric patients conducted in Miyagi prefecture, one of the major disaster areas of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.

Methods

The surveys examined the damages to maternity institutions, evacuation status and transport of pregnant women, and prehospital childbirths and were conducted in 50 maternity institutions and 12 fire departments in Miyagi.

Results

Two coastal institutions were destroyed completely, and four institutions were destroyed partially by the tsunami, forcing them to stop medical services. In the two-month period after the disaster, 217 pregnant women received hospital transport or gave birth after evacuation. Satisfactory perinatal outcomes were maintained. Emergency obstetric transport increased to approximately 1.4 fold the number before the disaster. Twenty-three women had prehospital childbirths, indicating a marked increase to approximately three times the number of the previous year.

Conclusion

In the acute phase of the tsunami disaster, maternity institutions were damaged severely and perinatal transport was not possible; as a result, pregnant women inevitably gave birth in unplanned institutions, and the number of prehospital births was increased extremely. To obtain satisfactory obstetric outcomes, it is necessary to construct a future disaster management system and to re-recognize pregnant women as people with special needs in disaster situations.

SugawaraJ, HoshiaiT, SatoK, TokunagaH, NishigoriH, AraiT, OkamuraK, YaegashiN. Impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake on Regional Obstetrical Care in Miyagi Prefecture. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2016;31(3):255– 258.

Type
Original Research
Copyright
© World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Weissman, A, Siegler, E, Neiger, R, et al. The influence of increased seismic activity on pregnancy outcome. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 1989;31(3):233-236.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2. Neuberg, M, Pawlosek, W, Lopuszanski, M, et al. The analysis of the course of pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum among women touched by flood disaster in Kotlin Kłodzki in July 1997. Ginekol Pol. 1998;69(12):866-870.Google Scholar
3. Chang, HL, Chang, TC, Lin, TY, et al. Psychiatric morbidity and pregnancy outcome in a disaster area of Taiwan 921 earthquake. Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2002;56(2):139-144.Google Scholar
4. Tan, CE, Li, HJ, Zhang, XG, et al. The impact of the Wenchuan Earthquake on birth outcomes. PLoS One. 2009;4(12):e8200.Google Scholar
5. Xiong, X, Harville, EW, Mattison, DR, et al. Hurricane Katrina experience and the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression among pregnant women. Am J Disaster Med. 2010;5(3):181-187.Google Scholar
6. Tong, VT, Zotti, ME, Hsia, J. Impact of the Red River catastrophic flood on women giving birth in North Dakota, 1994-2000. Matern Child Health J. 2011;15(3):281-288.Google Scholar