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Brief Communication

Increase in the number of patients with seizures following the Great East-Japan Earthquake

  1. Ichiyo Shibahara1,*,
  2. Shin-Ichiro Osawa2,
  3. Hiroyuki Kon1,
  4. Takahiro Morita1,
  5. Nobukazu Nakasato3,
  6. Teiji Tominaga2,
  7. Norio Narita1

Article first published online: 7 JAN 2013

DOI: 10.1111/epi.12070

Issue

Epilepsia

Epilepsia

Volume 54, Issue 4, pages e49–e52, April 2013

Additional Information

How to Cite

Shibahara, I., Osawa, S.-I., Kon, H., Morita, T., Nakasato, N., Tominaga, T. and Narita, N. (2013), Increase in the number of patients with seizures following the Great East-Japan Earthquake. Epilepsia, 54: e49–e52. doi: 10.1111/epi.12070

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Neurosurgery, Kesennuma City Hospital, Kesennuma, Japan

  2. 2

    Department of Neurosurgery, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan

  3. 3

    Department of Epileptology, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan

*Address correspondence to Ichiyo Shibahara, MD, PhD, Department of Neurosurgery, Kesennuma City Hospital, 184 Tanaka Kesennuma City, Miyagi Prefecture 988-0052, Japan. E-mail: shibahar@nsg.med.tohoku.ac.jp

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 1 APR 2013
  2. Article first published online: 7 JAN 2013
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 6 NOV 2012

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Keywords:

  • Earthquake;
  • Nutrition;
  • Stress;
  • Epilepsy;
  • Tsunami

Summary

In the afternoon of March 11, 2011, Kesennuma City was hit by the Great East-Japan Earthquake and a devastating tsunami. The purpose of this retrospective study is to document possible changes in the number of patients with distinct neurologic diseases seeking treatment following this disaster. Because of Kesennuma's unique geographical location, the city was isolated by the disaster, allowing for a study with relatively limited population selection bias. Patients admitted for neurologic emergencies from January 14 to May 5 in 2011 (n = 117) were compared with patients in the corresponding 16-week periods in 2008–2010 (n = 323). The number of patients with unprovoked seizures was significantly higher during the 8-week period after the earthquake (n = 13) than during the same periods in 2008 (n = 6), 2009 (n = 3), and 2010 (no patients) (p = 0.0062). In contrast, the number of patients treated for other neurologic diseases such as stroke, trauma, and tumors remained unchanged. To our knowledge, this is the first report of an increase in the number of patients with seizures following a life-threatening natural disaster. We suggest that stress associated with life-threatening situations may enhance seizure generation.

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