Objectives: This study aimed to examine the effects of flooding due to Typhoon Hagibis on the incidence of cardiovascular/cerebrovascular events in Nagano City.
Methods: The SAVE trial retrospectively enrolled 2426 patients hospitalized for cardiovascular/cerebrovascular disease in 5 hospitals in Nagano City from October 1 to December 31 in 2017 and 2018 (pre-disaster period) and in 2019 (post-disaster period). From these, 280 patients who were hospitalized in a district flooded in 2019 were recruited for the same period (October 12 to December 31) over the 3 years. The baseline characteristics of and the incidence of cardiovascular/cerebrovascular disease in cases from the flooded district in 2019 were compared with those of cases in the flooded district in 2017 and 2018.
Results: The total number of patients with acute myocardial infarction did not differ significantly between the post- and pre-disaster periods. The incidence of unstable angina pectoris was significantly higher in 2019 (n = 4, 5.1%) than in 2017 and 2018 (n = 0, 0.0%) (P = 0.001).
Conclusions: This study did not prove the impact of flood due to a typhoon on the incidence of cardiovascular/cerebrovascular events.
Keywords: Typhoon Hagibis; angina pectoris; cardiovascular disease; cerebrovascular disorders; flood disaster.