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Heart attacks increased post-Katrina

12/15/11

According to a new study by researchers at Tulane University Hospital, one New Orleans hospital reported a significant increase in heart attacks after Hurricane Katrina occurred.

Three years after Hurricane Katrina ripped through the New Orleans area and affected thousands of residents in 2005, 2 percent of patient admissions at Tulane University Hospital were caused by a heart attack, which according to the new research, represented a significant increase from the 0.7 percent that was reported two years before the hurricane struck, Reuters Health reported. Another study showed that two years following the hurricane, there was a three-fold increase in the number of heart attacks when compared to the years before the hurricane occurred.

Dr. Anand Irimpen of Tulane University and the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System in New Orleans told Reuters Health that he and researchers thought the increase seen during the first two years would decline, but continued into a third year.

In the third year, doctors saw a steady number of heart attack patients, with an increased number who were unemployed, had no form of health or life insurance and were smokers, according to the source.

These factors are seen as possible causes of the increase in heart attacks, being related to psychological stress, but doctors don't yet have conclusive evidence of this. These findings demonstrate how devastating natural disasters can be, and why it is important to have a life insurance policy in place prior to unexpected events.

More than 1,300 people died in Hurricane Katrina, with the exact number still not known six years after the tragedy.

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