After the Fort McMurray wildfire there are significant increases in mental health symptoms in grade 7–12 students compared to controls

Abstract

BackgroundIn order to examine the impact of disasters on adolescent mental health, this study compared population mental health survey data from two communities in Alberta, Canada: Fort McMurray, which experienced a major natural disaster, and Red Deer, which did not.MethodsData from 3070 grade 7–12 students from Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada (collected in 2017, 18 months after the 2016 wildfire) was compared with data from 2796 grade 7–12 students from Red Deer, Alberta, Canada (collected in 2014). The same measurement scales were used for both surveys. Both of these cities have populations of approximately 100,000, and both cities are located in Alberta, Canada. For this reason, Red Deer is an appropriate non-disaster impacted community to compare to the disaster impacted community of Fort McMurray.ResultsThe results of this comparison demonstrate that mental health symptoms were statistically significantly elevated in the Fort McMurray population when compared to the control population in Red Deer. This occurred for scores consistent with a diagnosis of depression (31% vs. 17%), moderately severe depression (17% vs. 9%), suicidal thinking (16% vs. 4%), and tobacco use (13% vs. 10%). Consistent with there being major mental health impacts from the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire, self-esteem scores and quality of life scores were also statistically significantly lower in Fort McMurray. While the rates of anxiety disorder were similar (15% vs. 16%), the mean scores on the anxiety scale were slightly higher, with this difference reaching statistical significance. There were no statistical differences in the rates or scores for alcohol or substance use.ConclusionsOur results are consistent with previous findings showing a significant negative impact of disasters on many aspects of adolescent mental, with a particular increase in symptoms related to depression and suicidal thinking. These findings highlight first, the need to identify adolescents most at risk of developing psychiatric symptoms after experiencing the trauma of disaster and second, the importance and necessity of implementing short and long term mental health intervention programs specifically aimed at adolescents, in order to help mitigate the negative effects of disasters on their mental health.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12888-018-2007-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

<p>No Associations of Psychological Symptoms and Suicide Risk with Disaster Experiences in Junior High School Students 5 Years After the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami</p>

“…Additionally, these findings in the past month are generally consistent with the rate of suicidal ideation in the control area. 38 Furthermore, 17.2% of 14 to 18-year-olds in a general community sample were found to have suicidal ideation, 40 and the estimated lifetime prevalence of suicidal ideation in youths aged 13-17 years has been reported to be 12.1%, 41 similar to the findings of the present study. In a survey on suicidal ideation in children in Japan aged 7-15 years, 414.8% of the responses to the statement "I don't think life is worth living" on the DSRS-C were "Mostly" and "Sometimes", respectively; this was nearly identical to the results of the present survey.…”

Health effects of wildfire smoke in children and public health tools: a narrative review

“…A number of studies suggest mental health effects of wildfire disasters on children. Surveys of the middle and high school students in a small Canadian city, 18 months after a large wildfire caused evacuation of the entire city, showed elevated rates of depressive symptoms among youth in that city compared to youth in a control city [ 61 , 62 ]. It is worth noting, however, that these effects cannot be clearly attributed to wildfire smoke as the trauma associated with widespread evacuation likely contributes to mental health.…”

Scientists’ warning on wildfire — a Canadian perspective

“…Significant mental health problems associated with wildfire disasters have been documented. For example, a study of Fort McMurray residents following the Horse River fire showed increased incidences of anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts (Cherry and Haynes 2017;Brown et al 2019). With predicted increases in future fire activity and a growing population, we may very well expect that public health problems, health care costs, health expenditures, and mortalities associated with wildfire may rise in the future.…”