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Earthquakes lead to an increase in heart disease
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
An earthquake off the east coast of Honshu in Japan with a magnitude of 9.0 on the Richter scale, which occurred on March 11, 2011, shocked the Japanese seismological community. This was one of the largest earthquakes in the history of Japan. By the number of victims and the scale of destruction, it gives way only to earthquakes in Japan in 1896 and 1923.
As a result of the earthquake, Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures suffered most. The disaster disrupted 388,783 homes and killed 15,861 people, the number of missing people was 3,018.
After the studies in the most affected areas of Japan, the staff of the Medical Department of Tohoku University, led by cardiologist Dr. Shiroaki Shimokawa, discovered an increase and increase in the number of certain diseases, namely, heart failure, acute coronary syndrome, strokes and pneumonia, and cardiac arrests. The information was obtained by scientists as a result of the analysis of emergency medical services data from February 11 to June 30 of each year, beginning in 2008, ending in 2011.
Deep alterations of the body resulted in negative emotions and fear caused by the earthquake and its aftershocks. This largely influenced the endocrine system - the main one in the organization of the general adaptation syndrome. In addition, the exacerbation of the situation caused the lack of medicines due to interruptions in traffic between cities, which is associated with the destruction of infrastructure.
Specialists even gave the name to the functional defeat of the cardiovascular and nervous systems, which suffered from the consequences of a natural disaster. They called this syndrome "the disease of the earthquake."
People who find themselves in the epicenter of tremors are very frightened, heart palpitations, a feeling of coldness of the limbs, a trembling in the whole body, stitching and constricting pain in the heart, increases the risk of hypertensive crises and strokes.
Physicians note the direct dependence of the number of vascular diseases of the heart and brain on the strength and frequency of seismic vibrations. There is also this connection with the clinical course of diseases and their outcome, but until the end of the cause and the consequences of the effects of earthquakes on the human body have not been studied.
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