Effect of stress on atopic dermatitis: Investigation in patients after the Great Hanshin Earthquake☆,☆☆,★
Section snippets
METHODS
One thousand five hundred eighty-nine outpatients with diagnoses of AD before the earthquake, according to the Japanese Dermatology Association Criteria, 16 were asked to fill out self-administered questionnaires. They were asked to provide the following: initial of name; age; sex; and a yes or no response with regard to questions concerning staying in a temporary shelter, bathing, cleaning up one’s living environment, taking treatment, feeling stress, and skin symptoms (the degree of itching
RESULTS
As shown in Table II , the number of patients with exacerbated symptoms significantly increased 1 month after the earthquake in the earthquake-damaged areas: 38.4% and 29.1% in area A and area B, respectively, compared with the control area (6.8%).
Area Subjects (n) Exacerbated symptoms Improved symptoms n % n % A * 539 207 ‡ 38.4 49 ‡ 9.1 B † 757 220 § 29.1 34 § 4.5 Control 161 11 6.8 2 1.2 * Severely damaged area. † Mildly damaged area. ‡ Significant versus area B ( P <
DISCUSSION
A natural disaster such as the Great Hanshin Earthquake causes a great deal of mental and physical distress, even though the level of stress is not be uniformly distributed among all people. In this study we did not ask the patients questions related to fear of the earthquake, injury from the earthquake, death or injury of their relations, and so on. We therefore cannot quantify how stressful those specific events were. The results of this study, however, suggest strongly that stress
Acknowledgements
We thank Dr Tomoyuki Nishizaki for critical reading of the manuscript.
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Supported in part by a Grant for Synthetic Research on the Great Hanshin Earthquake in the Southern District of Hyogo Prefecture by Kobe University Specific Research Project Team and by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture.
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Reprint requests: Tatsuya Horikawa, MD, Department of Dermatology, Kobe University School of Medicine, 7-5-1 Kusunokicho, Chuoku, Kobe 650-0017, Japan.
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