Impact of the great east Japan earthquake on the body mass index of preschool children: a nationwide nursery school survey

Hiroshi Yokomichi; Wei Zheng; Hiroko Matsubara; Mami Ishikuro; Masahiro Kikuya; Tsuyoshi Isojima; Susumu Yokoya; Toshiaki Tanaka; Noriko Kato; Shoichi Chida; Atsushi Ono; Mitsuaki Hosoya; Soichiro Tanaka; Shinichi Kuriyama; Shigeo Kure; Zentaro Yamagata

doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2015-010978

Impact of the great east Japan earthquake on the body mass index of preschool children: a nationwide nursery school survey

BMJ Open. 2016 Apr 7;6(4):e010978. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-010978.

Authors

Hiroshi Yokomichi¹, Wei Zheng², Hiroko Matsubara³, Mami Ishikuro⁴, Masahiro Kikuya⁴, Tsuyoshi Isojima⁵, Susumu Yokoya⁶, Toshiaki Tanaka⁷, Noriko Kato⁸, Shoichi Chida⁹, Atsushi Ono¹⁰, Mitsuaki Hosoya¹⁰, Soichiro Tanaka¹¹, Shinichi Kuriyama¹², Shigeo Kure¹¹, Zentaro Yamagata¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Health Sciences, University of Yamanashi, Yamanashi, Japan.
² Department of Social Medicine and Health Education, Peking University, Beijing, China.
³ Department of Disaster Public Health, International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Miyagi, Japan.
⁴ Department of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology, Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Miyagi, Japan.
⁵ Department of Pediatrics, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
⁶ Center for Clinical Research Data, National Center for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan.
⁷ Japanese Association for Human Auxology, Tokyo, Japan.
⁸ Department of Early Childhood Care and Education, Jumonji University, Saitama, Japan.
⁹ Department of Pediatrics, Iwate Medical University, Iwate, Japan.
¹⁰ Department of Pediatrics, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, Japan.
¹¹ Department of Pediatrics, Tohoku University, Miyagi, Japan.
¹² Department of Disaster Public Health, International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Miyagi, Japan Department of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology, Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Miyagi, Japan.

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the impact of the 2011 great east Japan earthquake on body mass index (BMI) of preschool children.

Design: Retrospective cohort study and ecological study.

Setting: Affected prefectures (Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate) and unaffected prefectures in northeast Japan.

Participants: The cohort study assessed 2033 and 1707 boys and 1909 and 1658 girls in 3 affected prefectures and unaffected prefectures, respectively, all aged 3-4 years at the time of the earthquake. The ecological study examined random samples of schoolchildren from the affected prefectures.

Primary and secondary outcome measures: The cohort study compared postdisaster changes in BMIs and the prevalence of overweight and obese children. The ecological study evaluated postdisaster changes in the prevalence of overweight children.

Results: 1 month after the earthquake, significantly increased BMIs were observed among girls (+0.087 kg/m(2) vs unaffected prefectures) in Fukushima and among boys and girls (+0.165 and +0.124 kg/m(2), respectively vs unaffected prefectures) in Iwate. 19 months after the earthquake, significantly increased BMIs were detected among boys and girls (+0.137 and +0.200 kg/m(2), respectively vs unaffected prefectures) in Fukushima, whereas significantly decreased BMIs were observed among boys and girls (-0.218 and -0.082 kg/m(2), respectively vs unaffected prefectures) in Miyagi. 1 month after the earthquake, Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate had a slightly increased prevalence of overweight boys, whereas Fukushima had a slightly decreased prevalence of overweight girls, compared with the unaffected prefectures. The ecological study detected increases in the prevalence of overweight boys and girls in Fukushima who were 6-11 and 6-10 years of age, respectively.

Conclusions: These results suggest that in the affected prefectures, preschool children gained weight immediately after the earthquake. The long-term impact of the earthquake on early childhood growth was more variable among the affected prefectures, possibly as a result of different speeds of recovery.

Keywords: Fukushima nuclear accident; body mass index; earthquake; growth; preschool child.

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Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Body Mass Index*
Child
Child, Preschool
Diet
Disasters*
Earthquakes*
Exercise
Female
Fukushima Nuclear Accident*
Humans
Japan / epidemiology
Male
Overweight / epidemiology
Pediatric Obesity / epidemiology*
Prevalence
Retrospective Studies
Social Environment
Stress, Psychological
Weight Gain*