Premium
Persistent impact of housing loss on cognitive decline after the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami: Evidence from a 6‐year longitudinal study
Author(s) -
Hikichi Hiroyuki,
Aida Jun,
Kondo Katsunori,
Kawachi Ichiro
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1016/j.jalz.2019.04.016
Subject(s) - cognitive decline , cognition , epicenter , demography , confidence interval , natural disaster , gerontology , medicine , geography , seismology , dementia , sociology , psychiatry , geology , disease , pathology , meteorology
We previously established that housing loss and residential dislocation in the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami was a risk factor for cognitive decline among older survivors. The present study extends the follow‐up of survivors out to 6 years. Methods The baseline for our natural experiment was established in a survey of older community‐dwelling adults who lived 80 km west of the epicenter 7 months before the earthquake and tsunami. Two follow‐up surveys were conducted approximately 2.5 years and 5.5 years after the disaster to ascertain the housing status and cognitive decline from 2810 older individuals (follow‐up rate through three surveys: 68.4%). Results The experience of housing loss was persistently associated with cognitive disability (coefficient = 0.14, 95% confidence interval: 0.04 to 0.23). Discussion Experiences of housing loss continued to be significantly associated with cognitive disability even six years after the disaster.