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The effect of Hurricane Katrina on the prevalence of health impairments and disability among adults in New Orleans: Differences by age, race, and sex

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  • Sastry, Narayan
  • Gregory, Jesse

Abstract

We examined the effects of Hurricane Katrina on disability-related measures of health among adults from New Orleans, U.S.A., in the year after the hurricane, with a focus on differences by age, race, and sex. Our analysis used data from the American Community Survey to compare disability rates between the pre-Katrina population of New Orleans with the same population in the year after Katrina (individuals were interviewed for the study even if they relocated away from the city). The comparability between the pre- and post-Katrina samples was enhanced by using propensity weights. We found a significant decline in health for the adult population from New Orleans in the year after the hurricane, with the disability rate rising from 20.6% to 24.6%. This increase in disability reflected a large rise in mental impairments and, to a lesser extent, in physical impairments. These increases were, in turn, concentrated among young and middle-aged black females. Stress-related factors likely explain why young and middle-aged black women experienced worse health outcomes, including living in dwellings and communities that suffered the most damage from the hurricane, household breakup, adverse outcomes for their children, and higher susceptibility.

Suggested Citation

  • Sastry, Narayan & Gregory, Jesse, 2013. "The effect of Hurricane Katrina on the prevalence of health impairments and disability among adults in New Orleans: Differences by age, race, and sex," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 121-129.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:80:y:2013:i:c:p:121-129
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.12.009
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    7. Brilleman, Samuel L. & Wolfe, Rory & Moreno-Betancur, Margarita & Sales, Anne E. & Langa, Kenneth M. & Li, Yun & Daugherty Biddison, Elizabeth L. & Rubinson, Lewis & Iwashyna, Theodore J., 2017. "Associations between community-level disaster exposure and individual-level changes in disability and risk of death for older Americans," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 118-125.
    8. Michelle S. Escobar Carías & David W. Johnston & Rachel Knott & Rohan Sweeney, 2022. "Flood disasters and health among the urban poor," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(9), pages 2072-2089, September.
    9. Yasuto Kunii & Yuriko Suzuki & Tetsuya Shiga & Hirooki Yabe & Seiji Yasumura & Masaharu Maeda & Shin-ichi Niwa & Akira Otsuru & Hirobumi Mashiko & Masafumi Abe & Mental Health Group of the Fukushima H, 2016. "Severe Psychological Distress of Evacuees in Evacuation Zone Caused by the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident: The Fukushima Health Management Survey," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(7), pages 1-15, July.

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