Chronic Illness Is The Disaster Inside Disasters - Special Katrina Issue

Main Category: Aid / Disasters
Article Date: 01 May 2007 - 1:00 PDT

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Four separate papers published in a special Katrina issue of the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, published today, detail the dramatic prevalence of chronic illness among people most affected by the hurricanes of 2005.

One paper, by Dr. Tista Ghosh and colleagues, reports on the health needs of Hurricane Katrina evacuees who were sent to Denver. A startling proportion of the 106 households whose needs were assessed were in need of prescription medication (60.2%). Secondly, non-Hispanic Black households were more likely than non-Hispanic White households to require employment, housing, and dental services. Finally, a large subset of the sample reported symptoms indicative of altitude sickness and the region-specific need for education on the effects of Denver's mile-high altitude. A total of 3,600 evacuees from the Gulf Coast were sent to Denver.

A second paper, by Dr. Marilyn Ridenour and colleagues, reports on the health needs of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina who were sent to West Virginia. A startling proportion of the evacuees reported chronic health conditions (46%), and the need for dental care (57%), eyeglasses (34%), dentures (28%), and medical services (25%). Twenty-five percent reported an acute illness.

A third paper reports on a mobile health care unit in Gulf Coast Mississippi after Katrina: Data collected from all patient encounters from September 5-20, 2005 demonstrate that in addition to common respiratory illnesses, skin conditions, and minor injuries, a high proportion of visits were for vaccine administration and chronic medical problems including hypertension, diabetes, and asthma.

Finally, a paper from Tulane University reports that children with chronic illness are at increased risk for adverse outcomes after disasters than are children without such conditions. The study authors report on a post-Katrina study of 531 children and adolescents (79.8% younger than 13 years old), 50.5% male, 42.8% African American. Participants with pre-existing conditions (39.4% of the total sample) were more likely than those without to be at clinic for a non-chronic health condition rather than another problem (43.5 vs. 16.2%), to take asthma medication (37.4 vs. 3.9%), to have asthma worsen (16.3 vs. 1.9%), to miss a visit (49.2 vs. 39.8%), to run out of medications (33.9 vs. 7.9%), to live with flood damage (19.7 vs. 11.3%) or mold (23.6 vs. 15.8%), and to experience disruption in care (58.4 vs. 38.3%) or negative psychological consequences (ranging from 2.5% to 12.9%).

-- New JHCPU submissions website
-- Factline: Tracking Health in Underserved Communities

Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved