BOSTON, Mass. (October 31, 2007) -- According to the most comprehensive survey of people affected by Hurricane Katrina, results of which are being presented today to the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery, the percentage of pre-hurricane residents of the affected areas in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi who have mental disorders has increased significantly compared to the situation five to eight months after the hurricane. These findings counter a more typical pattern from previous disasters where prevalence of mental disorders decreases as time passes.
The detailed results of this report are in press in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. A list of key findings is below.
These and other survey results come from follow-up interviews with the Hurricane Community Advisory Group, a statistically representative sample of hurricane survivors assembled to provide information in a series of ongoing tracking surveys about the pace of recovery efforts and the mental health effects of these efforts on hurricane survivors.
The study is led by researchers from Harvard Medical School and is funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, FEMA, and the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services for Planning and Evaluation.
"It is important for mental health policy planners to have accurate information about the size of the problem they are trying to address among survivors of Hurricane Katrina," says Ronald Kessler, Professor of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School and director of the study. "Our tracking surveys are designed to provide that information."
Hurricane Katrina was the deadliest United States hurricane in seven decades, and the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history. Over 500,000 people were evacuated, and nearly 90,000 square miles were declared a disaster area (roughly equal to the land mass of the United Kingdom). Although occurring over two years ago, infrastructure reconstruction efforts continue to lag, raising concerns about long-term mental health effects.
The Hurricane Katrina Community Advisory Group initiative was launched to provide an ongoing tracking survey of those effects. The data are designed to help support public health decisions.
The survey data presented in the report released today come from a follow-up survey from an original sample of 1,043 people who agreed to join the survey panel and to participate in repeated surveys over several years.
Overview of Initial Survey Published in August 2006
Overview of Follow-Up Survey Results
The fact that hurricane-related stressors were still quite common in the population nearly two years after the hurricane, and that much of this could be attributed to these continuing stresses suggests that efforts to address the problem of increased mental illness and suicidality among Hurricane Katrina victims must confront continuing needs for practical and logistical assistance. This may be particularly challenging since many pre-hurricane residents of the affected areas are now living elsewhere in the country. Still, it is especially important to reach these geographically displaced people because of their comparatively high risk of serious mental illness.
HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL
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Harvard Medical School has more than 7,000 full-time faculty working in 10 academic departments housed on the School's Boston quadrangle or in one of 48 academic departments at 18 Harvard teaching hospitals and research institutes. Those Harvard hospitals and research institutions include Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Cambridge Health Alliance, The CBR Institute for Biomedical Research, Children's Hospital Boston, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Forsyth Institute, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Joslin Diabetes Center, Judge Baker Children's Center, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Mental Health Center, McLean Hospital, Mount Auburn Hospital, Schepens Eye Research Institute, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, and the VA Boston Healthcare System.
Molecular Psychiatry