Temporal and Spatial Patterns in Utilization of Mental Health Services During and After Hurricane Sandy: Emergency Department and Inpatient Hospitalizations in New York City

Abstract

ObjectiveHurricane Sandy made landfall on October 29, 2012, causing a coastal storm surge and extensive flooding, which led to the closure of several health care facilities in New York City (NYC) and prolonged interruptions in service delivery. The impact on mental health–related emergency department (ED) and inpatient hospital service utilization was studied.MethodsData came from the New York Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System. We obtained mental health–related data among NYC residents from 2010 to 2013. Patients were grouped into 5 geographic areas, including service areas of closed hospitals, the Hurricane Sandy evaluation zone, and all of NYC. The Farrington method was used to detect increases in ED visits and hospitalizations for the post-Sandy period.ResultsOpen hospitals experienced a substantial increase in psychiatric ED visits from patients living in the service areas of closed hospitals. This surge in psychiatric ED visits persisted for 4 to 6 months after Hurricane Sandy. However, the increase in psychiatric hospitalizations was observed for 1 to 3 months.ConclusionsSeveral NYC hospitals received a substantially larger number of ED patients from service areas of closed hospitals after Hurricane Sandy, unlike other hospitals that experienced a decrease. Because of potential surges in the number of psychiatric ED visits, resource allocation to hospitals should be considered. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;10:512–517)

Collective Trauma and Mental Health Hospitalization Rates Among Children in New York State, 1999–2013: Age, Period, and Cohort Effects

“…Our results do confirm reports from previous literature on the age effects associated with collective traumatic events, and, in terms of our findings on cohort effects, they add to the research on possible long-term mental health ramifications of exposure. The age effects associated with puberty and adolescence have been noted in previous studies that found increased risk of various mental health concerns past childhood (He et al, 2016). We interpret the period effects noted in our study as possibly indicative of a gradual effect of 9/11 and the Great Recession on mental health hospitalizations for children and adolescents.…”

“…No notable period effect seemed to be associated with Hurricane Sandy in 2012. A previous study examining monthly mental health hospitalizations in New York City found a considerable decrease in the count of mental health hospitalizations among all age groups restricted to the first 3 months after Hurricane Sandy and no subsequent differences from 3 through 12 months after the hurricane (He et al., ). However, the lack of period effects associated with Hurricane Sandy in our results may be due to the limited time period (1999–2013) used in the analysis.…”

All-Cause Hospital Admissions Among Older Adults After a Natural Disaster

“…3 Psychiatric ED visits remained higher than baseline in the six months after Hurricane Sandy in 2012. 4 ED use varied at individual hospitals after Hurricane Sandy, with visits the day of the disaster consistently lower than normal across all studies, [5][6][7] while 30% of dialysis centers experienced some degree of weather-related impact on operations in the aftermath of the June 2012 mid-Atlantic storms in the U.S. 8 An increase in all-cause admissions was found in the 30 days after Hurricane Katrina among dialysis patients. 9 Yet, evaluating hospitalizations for any cause on a 'whole disaster' scale have remained limited in the disaster health literature.…”

Ethnic differences in risk: experiences, medical needs, and access to care after hurricane Sandy in New Jersey

“…Metrics of disaster effects on health care include emergency room visits (He et al, 2016;Kandace et al, 2016), physician or clinic visits (Martin, 2015;Pantea and Lin, 2015), pharmacy use (Sharp et al, 2016), changing incidences of diseases and mortality (Greene et al, 2012;Swerdel et al, 2014), hospital discharge data bases (Rajan et al, 2015), and patient surveys on access to care (this study), among others. Addressing the physical and mental health needs of vulnerable populations (e.g.…”