Impact of 2015 earthquakes on a local hospital in Nepal: A prospective hospital-based study

Giri, Samita; Risnes, Kari; Uleberg, Oddvar; Rogne, Tormod; Shrestha, Sanu Krishna; Nygaard, Øystein P.; Koju, Rajendra; Solligård, Erik

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0192076

Cited by 42 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…This is probably because such admissions were shortened to ensure all earthquake victims in need were admitted and appropriately treated. These findings are in line with a study in a rural hospital in Nepal describing the patient load in the three weeks after the earthquake, which found that earthquake-related conditions had significantly longer hospitalizations compared to other non-earthquake related admissions 17 .…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Changes in patient admissions after the 2015 Earthquake: a tertiary hospital-based study in Kathmandu, Nepal

Almeida

Schlüter

Loenhout

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Literature on earthquake impact on hospital admissions is lacking, particularly in low-resource settings. Our aim was to study the pattern of admissions before and after the 2015 earthquake in a tertiary hospital in Nepal. We used routine hospital data from 9,596 admissions, and defined four periods: pre-earthquake (pre-EQ), acute (EQ1), post-acute (EQ2), and post-earthquake (post-EQ). We compared length of hospital stay (LOS) across the study periods using negative binomial regressions. We used logistic regressions to study changes in probability of admission for diagnostic categories, and Generalized Additive Models to model the difference in number of admissions compared to pre-EQ baseline. LOS was longer in EQ1 than during pre-EQ, in particular for injury-related admissions. In EQ1, the odds of injury admissions increased, while they decreased for the majority of other diagnoses, with the odds of pregnancy-related admissions remaining low until post-EQ. The number of admissions dropped in EQ1 and EQ2, and returned to pre-EQ trends in post-EQ, accumulating 381 admissions lost (CI: 206-556). Our findings suggest that hospital disaster plans must not only foresee injury management after earthquakes, but also ensure accessibility, in particular for pregnant women, and promote a quick return to normality to prevent additional negative health outcomes. Violent, sudden-onset disasters, such as hurricanes or earthquakes, cause considerable damage in communities, leading to widespread destruction 1. While deaths and direct injuries are immediate and expectable consequences of such disasters, drastic changes in the surrounding environment may have longer-term health effects 2-7. These disasters also heavily disturb health systems, which must provide healthcare in a context of sudden increase of health needs, radical change of priority conditions, infrastructural and material damage, and staff shortages 8. While most of the victims in need of care during and after a disaster are managed in an outpatient basis at emergency departments, a considerable amount of people will require hospitalization 9. However, there is inconsistent evidence on the impact on hospital admissions immediately after and in the months following violent, sudden-onset disasters 3,10-12. Earthquakes are the most destructive type of natural disaster, having killed nearly 720,000 people globally between 2000 and 2018. About two thirds of all events worldwide occurred in Asia, where earthquakes affect much more people than earthquakes in all the other continents 13. Rapid population growth, urbanization, poverty, and geological risks contribute to Asia's seismic vulnerability. Nepal is located on the boundaries of two colliding tectonic plates. On April 25 th 2015, an earthquake with a moment magnitude of 7.8 severely hit the country. The epicenter was in Gorkha district, and heavy infrastructural damage occurred in neighbouring regions, including in the capital city of Kathmandu located 76 km away. There were several aftershocks, the strongest occurri...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Changes in patient admissions after the 2015 Earthquake: a tertiary hospital-based study in Kathmandu, Nepal

Almeida

Schlüter

Loenhout

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…In a similar study by Thapa SS et al, 9 majority of population (61%) were in the age group 16-60 years. Likewise, in the prospective hospital based study by Giri S et al, 10 around 74% population were of the age group 15-65 years and in the earthquake disaster relief mission in Nepal by Singapore Armed Forces, 11 there were 77.9% adults.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

A Study of Surgical Cases During Earthquake Disaster in A Medical College

Kanchan¹,

Thapa²,

Khadka³

et al. 2019

J Nepal Med Assoc

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Introduction: An earthquake is an intense shaking of earth’s surface which is caused by movements in earth’s outermost layer. The earthquake of 25th April 2015, with a magnitude of 7.8 richter scale with its major aftershock on 12th May 2015 of 7.3 richter scale claimed around 8,962 lives across several districts of Nepal with 22,302 injuries. In this study we tried to figure out various surgical cases and the surgical procedures performed in a tertiary care hospital during an earthquake disaster.Methods: This study was a descriptive cross-sectional study of hospital data on all admitted surgical cases during an earthquake disaster. A total of 238 earthquake victims brought to emergency department of Kathmandu Medical College Teaching Hospital , a tertiary care center, from 26th April 2015 to 7th Jun 2015, for the period of 42 days were included. Those brought dead and discharged after primary treatments were excluded. Data obtained were entered and analysed in Microsoft Excel 2010.Results: Among 238 patients enrolled, 122 (51%) were male and 116 (49%) female with male to female ratio of 1.05:1. Age group (31-60 years) with an average age of 45 years were encountered most frequently 110 (46%) with the maximum number of patient burden from Sindhupalchowk district 80 (33.6%). Orthopedic surgery 185 (76%) appeared to be the most frequent followed by neurosurgery, plastic surgery, general surgery and dental surgery.Conclusions: In natural disaster like earthquakes, traumatic injuries are very common and thereby various surgical procedures especially ortho-plastic are the domain of treatment modalities. Disaster preparedness and combined surgical team effort needs to be focused to reduce both mortality and morbidity. Keywords: disaster; earthquake; Nepal; surgery.

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“…To achieve these goals, we designed an interview questionnaire to be conducted in various localities (see Appendix 1). It includes the following question items: (1) Question items to grasp the impacts on people's lives, (2) Question items to grasp the degree of impact of the political on each industry in Nepal, (3) Question items to grasp the people's understanding of the political crisis. Then, according to responses from the local people, we identify the real problems of the situation in Nepal and the future problems.…”

Section: Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Landlocked between China and India, it is rich in animal and plant diversity and boasts of Mount Everest and the Himalayan mountain range. On May 12 th 2015, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 occurred and killed nearly 9,000 people, injuring nearly 22,000 people [1], [2]. It made hundreds of thousands of Nepalese homeless with entire villages flattened across many districts of the country [3], [4], [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%