Background: We reported an increased occurrence of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) after the Great East Japan Earthquake by examining ambulance records, but it had to be confirmed by cardiologists.
Methods and results: We enrolled patients admitted to the cardiology department of the 10 hospitals in the disaster area from 4 weeks prior to 15 weeks after March 11 in the years 2008-2011 (n=14,078). The weekly occurrence of several CVDs, including heart failure (HF), pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) and infectious endocarditis (IE), was sharply and significantly increased after the Earthquake.
Conclusions: The Disaster caused significantly increases in the occurrence of HF, PTE and IE.