Hiroshima City Hiroshima Citizens Hospital Reports Findings in Information Technology (Impact of the 2018 Japan Floods on benzodiazepine use: a longitudinal analysis based on the National Database of Health Insurance Claims): Information Technology

2022 MAY 06 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Information Technology is the subject of a report. According to news reporting originating from Hiroshima, Japan, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Natural disaster has an impact on mental health. The 2018 Japan Floods, which took place in July 2018 were one of the largest water disasters in Japan’s recorded history.”

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from Hiroshima City Hiroshima Citizens Hospital, “We aimed to evaluate the change in the number of benzodiazepine prescriptions by physicians before and after the disaster. A retrospective cohort study based on the National Database of Health Insurance Claims was conducted in the flood-stricken areas between July 2017 and June 2019. The subjects were divided between victims and non-victims according to certification by local governments. Members of both groups were then categorized into three groups based on their pre-flood use of benzodiazepines: non-user, occasional user, and continuous user. Difference-in-differences (DID) analysis with a logistic regression model was conducted to estimate the effect of the disaster among victims by comparing the occurrence of benzodiazepine prescriptions before and after the disaster. Of 5,000,129 people enrolled, 31,235 were victims. Among all participants, the mean prescription rate for benzodiazepines in victims before the disaster (11.3%) increased to 11.8% after the disaster, while that in non-victims (8.3%) decreased to 7.9%. The DID analysis revealed that benzodiazepine prescription among victims significantly increased immediately after the disaster (adjusted ratio of odds ratios (ROR) 1.07: 95% confidence interval 1.05-1.11), and the effect of the disaster persisted even 1 year after the disaster (adjusted ROR 1.2: 95% confidence interval 1.16-1.24).”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “The flood increased the number of benzodiazepines prescriptions among victims, and the effect persisted for at least 1 year.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Impact of the 2018 Japan Floods on benzodiazepine use: a longitudinal analysis based on the National Database of Health Insurance Claims. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 2022. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology can be contacted at: Springer Heidelberg, Tiergartenstrasse 17, D-69121 Heidelberg, Germany. (Springer - www.springer.com; Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology - http://www.springerlink.com/content/0933-7954/)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Yuji Okazaki, Dept. of Emergency Medicine, Hiroshima City Hiroshima Citizens Hospital, 7-33 Motomachi, Naka-ku, Hiroshima, 730-8518, Japan. Additional authors for this research include Shuhei Yoshida, Saori Kashima, Shinya Ishii, Soichi Koike and Masatoshi Matsumoto.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-022-02289-9. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Publisher contact information for the journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology is: Springer Heidelberg, Tiergartenstrasse 17, D-69121 Heidelberg, Germany.

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