Review on Disasters and Lower Limb Venous Disease

Abstract

As per the World Health Organization, a disaster is defined as "an event that occurs in most cases suddenly and unexpectedly, causing severe disturbances to people or objects affected by it, resulting in the loss of life and harm to the health of the population." A number of health issues are often reported following disasters, such as physical and psychological trauma, infections, malnutrition, and cardiovascular events. Among these, venous thromboembolism is deemed serious and thus should be taken into consideration. Indeed, its risk has been demonstrated to increase following earthquakes, floods, burns, and intoxications. The recent coronavirus pandemic summarizes some of the main triggering factors involved in acute and chronic venous disease development in a disaster setting: inflammation, infection, lockdown-induced reduced mobility, potential malnutrition, and overweight. Proper venous risk assessment and guideline application have been determined to be essential in disaster management, particularly in the current time in which sheltering could lead to a potential exacerbation of the pandemic, which can only increase the risk for venous thrombotic diseases.Global scientific teamwork is needed to make the recommendations as evidence-based and as homogeneous as possible among continents. In this present review, we focus on how earthquakes impact venous thromboembolism, including an analysis of other disaster-related conditions, such as burns and intoxication. (This is a review article based on the informative seminar of the 40th Annual Meeting of Japanese Society of Phlebology.

Deprem ve Akciğer

“…Indeed, its risk has been demonstrated to increase following earthquakes, floods, burns, and intoxications. Proper venous risk assessment and guideline application have been determined to be essential in disaster management, which can increase the risk for venous thrombotic diseases (28). Dehydration, prolonged immobility, and earthquake-related injuries are thought to be the causes of the high prevalence of deep vein thrombosis in evacuees from earthquakes (29).…”

Importance of continuing health care before emergency hospital evacuation: a fatal case of a hospitalized patient in a hospital within 5 km radius of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant: a case report

“…3 Research Center for Community Health, Minamisoma Municipal General Hospital, Minamisoma, Fukushima, Japan. 4 Department of Radiation Health Management, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima, Japan. 5 Department of Internal Medicine, Serireikai Group Hirata Central Hospital, Ishikawa District, Fukushima, Japan.…”

“…Disasters cause a wide range of short-and long-term health problems. Short-term impacts include problems related to supplies and lifelines [1,2], medium-term impacts include problems related to physical and mental functional decline while living in shelters [3,4], and longterm impacts include problems related to the rebuilding of communities in the affected areas [5][6][7][8][9][10]. Although risk management efforts, risk reduction frameworks, and relevant policies continue to address disasters and strengthen disaster management efforts, minimizing the impact of disasters remains challenging [11].…”