School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Republic of China.
Department of International and Community Oral Health, Tohoku University Graduate School of Dentistry, Sendai, Japan.
Sci Rep. 2019 Jan 23;9(1):374. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-36906-y.
Natural disasters are often associated with forced residential relocation, thereby affected people experience a change of food environment that results in the increased body mass index. However, there are a few studies that examined whether a change in food environment caused risk of obesity after a natural disaster. To address this question, we leveraged a natural experiment of residential relocation in the aftermath of the 2011 Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. Our baseline data came from a nationwide cohort study of older community-dwelling adults conducted 7 months prior to the disaster. By chance, one of the field sites (Iwanuma City, Miyagi Prefecture) was directly in the line of the tsunami. Approximately 2.5 years after the disaster, we ascertained the residential addresses and health status of 3,594 survivors aged 65 years or older (82.1% follow-up rate). Fixed effects multinomial logistic regression showed that shortened distances to food outlets/bars increased the risks of transitioning from BMI in the normal range (18.5-22.9) to obesity (≥25.0) (Odds ratios: 1.46 for supermarkets; 1.43 for bars; 1.44 times for fast food outlets). Radically changed food access after a natural disaster may raise the risk of obesity among older survivors.
自然灾害常伴随着强制住宅迁移，受影响人群的食物环境发生改变，从而导致体重指数增加。然而，仅有少数研究探讨了食物环境的改变是否会在自然灾害后增加肥胖的风险。为了解决这个问题，我们利用了 2011 年日本地震和海啸后住宅迁移的自然实验。我们的基线数据来自于一项在灾难发生前 7 个月进行的全国性社区居住老年人队列研究。偶然的是，其中一个实地调查点（宫城县岩沼市）正好处于海啸的路线上。大约在灾难发生 2.5 年后，我们确定了 3594 名 65 岁及以上幸存者的居住地址和健康状况（82.1%的随访率）。固定效应多项逻辑回归显示，到食品店/酒吧的距离缩短会增加从 BMI 正常范围（18.5-22.9）转变为肥胖（≥25.0）的风险（超市的优势比为 1.46；酒吧为 1.43；快餐店为 1.44 倍）。自然灾害后食物获取途径的急剧改变可能会增加老年幸存者肥胖的风险。
