Citation

Sugimoto JD, Labrique AB, Ahmad S, Rashid M, Shamim AA, Ullah B, Klemm RD, Christian P, West KP. Disasters 2011; 35(2): 329-345.

Affiliation

MHS is a PhD Candidate at the Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington, and Pre-doctoral Research Associate at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, United States PhD is an Assistant Professor at the Departments of Epidemiology and International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, United States MSc is a Research Student at the School of Mathematical and Geospatial Sciences, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, Australia MS is the Senior Medical Epidemiologist at the JiVitA Project, Bangladesh MSc is Senior Nutritionist at the JiVitA Project, Bangladesh MPH is a Senior Research Physician at the JiVitA Project, Bangladesh DrPH is an Assistant Scientist at the Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and a Senior Technical Advisor for the A2Z Micronutrient Project, Academy for Educational Development (AED), United States DrPH is an Associate Professor at the Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, United States DrPH is a Professor at the Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, United States.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1467-7717.2010.01214.x

PMID

21073669

Abstract

The epidemiology of tornado-related disasters in the developing world is poorly understood. An August 2005 post-tornado cohort study in rural Bangladesh identified elevated levels of death and injury among the elderly (≥ 60 years of age) (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 8.9 (95 per cent confidence interval (CI): 3.9-20.2) and AOR = 1.6 (95 per cent CI: 1.4-1.8), respectively), as compared to 15-24 year-olds, and among those outdoors versus indoors during the tornado (AOR = 10.4 (95 per cent CI: 5.5-19.9) and AOR = 6.6 (95 per cent CI: 5.8-7.5), respectively). Females were 1.24 times (95 per cent CI: 1.15-1.33) more likely to be injured than males. Elevated risk of injury was significantly associated with structural damage to the house and tin construction materials. Seeking treatment was protective against death among the injured, odds ratio = 0.08 (95 per cent CI: 0.03-0.21). Further research is needed to develop injury prevention strategies and to address disparities in risk between age groups and between men and women.

Language: en