The impact of cyclone, storm, and flood on non-communicable diseases
Citation: Ryan B, Franklin RC, Burkle Jr FM, et al. Identifying and Describing the Impact of Cyclone, Storm and Flood Related Disasters on Treatment Management, Care and Exacerbations of Non-communicable Diseases and the Implications for Public Health. PLoS Currents. 2015;7.
Language: Abstract and full text available in EN.
Free to view: Yes.
Funding sources: Australian Centre for Health Service Innovation and Cunningham Centre / Toowoomba Hospital Foundation, Australia.
What is this? In this systematic review, the authors searched for studies on the impact of cyclones, floods, and storms on people with, or at risk for non-communicable diseases (NCDs). They searched in January 2015 for articles published until the end of 2014 and excluded conference abstracts and literature reviews. The authors found 48 articles, 36 of which were from the USA.
What was found: Cyclones, floods, and storms can interrupt healthcare by damage to transport services, reduction in health services, loss of power, and evacuation. Interruptions in care may exacerbate NCDs and increase the risk of death.
Implications: The authors of the review stated that future work should assess the many factors that influence the morbidity and mortality of non-communicable diseases during and after disasters caused by natural hazards.
Other considerations: The authors of the review did not discuss their findings in the context of issues relating to health equity.
This summary was written by Beirut Ibrahim, checked by Jawaria Karim and finalized by William Summerskilll.