Mofaz Merav, Yechezkel Matan, Einat Haim, Kronfeld-Schor Noga, Yamin Dan, Shmueli Erez
Department of Industrial Engineering, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
School of Behavioral Sciences, The Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
Commun Med (Lond). 2023 Apr 17;3(1):55. doi: 10.1038/s43856-023-00284-y.
Modern wars have a catastrophic effect on the wellbeing of civilians. However, the nature of this effect remains unclear, with most insights gleaned from subjective, retrospective studies.
We prospectively monitored 954 Israelis (>40 years) from two weeks before the May 2021 Israel-Gaza war until four weeks after the ceasefire using smartwatches and a dedicated mobile application with daily questionnaires on wellbeing. This war severely affected civilians on both sides, where over 4300 rockets and missiles were launched towards Israeli cities, and 1500 aerial, land, and sea strikes were launched towards 16,500 targets in the Gaza Strip.
We identify considerable changes in all the examined wellbeing indicators during missile attacks and throughout the war, including spikes in heart rate levels, excessive screen-on time, and a reduction in sleep duration and quality. These changes, however, fade shortly after the war, with all affected measures returning to baseline in nearly all the participants. Greater changes are observed in individuals living closer to the battlefield, women, and younger individuals.
The demonstrated ability to monitor objective and subjective wellbeing indicators during crises in real-time is pivotal for the early detection of and prompt assistance to populations in need.
现代战争对平民的福祉有着灾难性影响。然而，这种影响的本质仍不明确，大多数见解来自主观的回顾性研究。
我们使用智能手表和一款配有每日福祉调查问卷的专用移动应用程序，对954名以色列人（年龄>40岁）进行了前瞻性监测，监测时间从2021年5月以色列-加沙战争前两周直至停火后四周。这场战争严重影响了双方平民，向以色列城市发射了超过4300枚火箭弹和导弹，向加沙地带的16500个目标发动了1500次空袭、陆攻和海攻。
我们发现，在导弹袭击期间及整个战争期间，所有被检测的福祉指标都发生了显著变化，包括心率水平飙升、屏幕开启时间过长、睡眠时间和质量下降。然而，这些变化在战争结束后不久就消失了，几乎所有参与者的所有受影响指标都恢复到了基线水平。在居住地点离战场更近的人、女性和年轻人中观察到了更大的变化。
在危机期间实时监测客观和主观福祉指标的能力，对于早期发现有需要的人群并迅速提供援助至关重要。
