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Prefabricated Temporary Housing and Eczema or Respiratory Symptoms in Schoolchildren after the Great East Japan Earthquake: The ToMMo Child Health Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2019

Yasutaka Kuniyoshi*
Affiliation:
Department of Disaster Public Health, International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
Masahiro Kikuya
Affiliation:
Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan Department of Hygiene and Public Health, Teikyo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
Masako Miyashita
Affiliation:
Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan Department of Molecular Epidemiology, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
Chizuru Yamanaka
Affiliation:
Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan Department of Molecular Epidemiology, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
Mami Ishikuro
Affiliation:
Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan Department of Molecular Epidemiology, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
Taku Obara
Affiliation:
Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan Department of Molecular Epidemiology, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Japan
Hirohito Metoki
Affiliation:
Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan Division of Public Health, Hygiene and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
Naoki Nakaya
Affiliation:
Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan Department of Personalized Prevention and Epidemiology, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
Fuji Nagami
Affiliation:
Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
Hiroaki Tomita
Affiliation:
Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan Department of Disaster Psychiatry, International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
Atsushi Hozawa
Affiliation:
Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan Department of Personalized Prevention and Epidemiology, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
Ichiro Tsuji
Affiliation:
Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan Department of Public Health and Forensic Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
Shigeo Kure
Affiliation:
Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan Department of Pediatrics, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
Nobuo Yaegashi
Affiliation:
Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tohoku University Hospital, Sendai, Japan
Shinichi Kuriyama
Affiliation:
Department of Disaster Public Health, International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan Department of Molecular Epidemiology, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Yasutaka Kuniyoshi, MD, Department of Disaster Public Health, International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, 2-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8573, Japan (e-mail: yasutakakuniyoshi@yahoo.co.jp).

Abstract

Objective:

We aimed to investigate the association between types of housing and allergic symptoms at 3–4 years following the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Methods:

Our study was based on the ToMMo Child Health Study conducted in 2014 and 2015, a cross-sectional survey of public school children in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. Of the 46 648 invited schoolchildren in the 2nd to 8th grades, 9884 were included. Presence of eczema, wheezing, and mental health symptoms was defined with questionnaires. To calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs for the associations between types of housing and eczema or respiratory symptoms, we fitted generalized linear mixed models, included a random effect for municipality of residence, and adjusted for sex, school grade, survey year, and mental health symptoms.

Results:

Prefabricated temporary housing was significantly associated with eczema symptoms (OR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.06–2.02). Even after adjusting for the presence of mental health symptoms, our analysis produced similar results (OR, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.03–1.96). Conversely, it was not significantly associated with respiratory symptoms (OR, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.61–1.54).

Conclusions:

Children living in prefabricated temporary housing had a higher prevalence of eczema symptoms; however, prevalence of respiratory symptoms was not significantly higher.

Type
Original Research
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 

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