Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30850415›Full record

ArticleBMJ open2019

Alcohol consumption behaviours in the immediate aftermath of earthquakes: time series study.

Daiki Kobayashi, Hana Hayashi, Hironori Kuga, Nagato Kuriyama, Yoshihiro Terasawa, Yasuhiro Osugi, Osamu Takahashi, Gautam Deshpande, Ichiro Kawachi

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMJ open, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact, top 96% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 4 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.

Daiki KobayashiMedicine, St. Luke's International Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.ORCID 0000-0002-3641-2088
Hana HayashiMcCann Health, McCann Public Health, Tokyo, Japan.
Hironori KugaDepartment of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Nagato KuriyamaEpidemiology for Community Health and Medicine, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan.
Yoshihiro TerasawaGeneral Internal Medicine, Fujita Health University, Toyoake, Japan.
Yasuhiro OsugiGeneral Internal Medicine, Fujita Health University, Toyoake, Japan.
Osamu TakahashiMedicine, St. Luke's International Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
Gautam DeshpandeMedicine, Juntendo University - Hongo Campus, Bunkyo-ku, Japan.
Ichiro KawachiSociety, Human Development and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Fujita Health University · JPSt. Luke's International Hospital · JPHarvard University · USJohns Hopkins University · USJuntendo University · JPKyoto Prefectural University of Medicine · JP

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesEarthquakes are a distressing natural phenomenon that can disrupt normal health-related behaviours. The aim of this study was to investigate changes in alcohol consumption behaviours in the immediate aftermath of mild to moderate earthquakes.

settingThis retrospective cohort study was conducted at a large academic hospital in Tokyo, Japan from April 2004 to March 2017.

participantsWe included all adult patients presenting with acute alcohol intoxication in the emergency room. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Our outcome was the number of such patients per 24 hours period comparing days with and without earthquake activity. We mainly focused on mild to moderate earthquakes (Shindo scale of less than 3). We conducted a simple generalised autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (GARCH) analysis, followed by a multivariate GARCH, including year-fixed effects and secular changes in alcohol taxation. Subanalyses were conducted by gender and age group.

resultsDuring the study period, 706 earthquakes were observed with a median Shindo scale of 2 (IQR: 1). During this period, 6395 patients were admitted with acute ethanol intoxication; the mean age was 42.6 (SD: 16.9) years and 4592 (71.8%) patients were male. In univariate analyses, the occurrence of daytime earthquakes was marginally inversely related to the number of acutely intoxicated patients (β coefficient: -0.19, 95% CI -0.40 to 0.01). This finding remained similar in multivariate analyses after adjustment for covariates. In analyses stratified by gender, the inverse association between daytime earthquakes and alcohol intoxication was only observed among men (p<0.03 for males and p=0.99 for females). In subanalyses by age, older people were less likely to be admitted to the hospital due to acute alcohol intoxication on days with daytime earthquakes (p=0.11), but this was not the case for younger people (p=0.36).

conclusionOn days when a mild to moderate daytime earthquake occurred, the number of patients with acute alcohol intoxication was lower compared with days without earthquakes. Even milder forms of potentially catastrophic events appear to influence social behaviour; mild to moderate earthquake activity is associated with the avoidance of excessive alcohol consumption.

Indexed as

EarthquakesAdultAgedAge DistributionAlcohol DrinkingFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedMultivariate AnalysisRetrospective StudiesSex DistributionTokyoalcoholalcohol intoxicationbehaviourearthquake

Identifiers

PMID30850415
PMCPMC6429926
OpenAlexW2922507113

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.