@article{11efafaea9fa4306bfc6f8562585ad95,
title = "Prolonged elevated body mass index in preschool children after the Great East Japan Earthquake",
abstract = "Background: The Great East Japan Earthquake followed by tsunamis and the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) accident caused catastrophic damage. The effects of the disaster on the growth of affected children are of great concern but remain unknown. Methods: The subject group was derived from two Japanese nationwide retrospective cohorts (historical control and exposure groups, respectively). The exposure group experienced the disaster at 47–59 months of age. We analyzed longitudinal changes in standard deviation score (SDS) for height and body mass index (BMI) using normal Japanese children's standards. Moreover, we analyzed the details of the affected children in Fukushima using Fukushima-specific growth charts established with the historical control data to clarify any indirect effect of the disaster on growth. Results: Affected children in Fukushima had significantly higher BMI SDS than the historical control group (difference, 0.13; 95% CI: 0.044–0.21, P = 0.0029) and the regional controls (difference, 0.14; 95% CI: 0.074–0.20, P < 0.0001) 1.5 years after the disaster. Similar sustained increases in BMI SDS were also found with Fukushima-specific growth charts, but the phenomenon was detected only in boys. Notably, the BMI SDS of affected children who lived near the NPP had been increasing after the disaster, whereas those in distant areas had not changed. In contrast, height SDS had not changed throughout the analysis. Conclusions: Prolonged elevated BMI SDS was detected only in affected children in Fukushima. This phenomenon may be explained by an indirect effect of the NPP accident.",
keywords = "LMS method, body mass index, natural disaster, nuclear power plant accident, preschool children",
author = "Tsuyoshi Isojima and Susumu Yokoya and Atsushi Ono and Noriko Kato and Toshiaki Tanaka and Hiroshi Yokomichi and Zentaro Yamagata and Soichiro Tanaka and Hiroko Matsubara and Mami Ishikuro and Masahiro Kikuya and Shoichi Chida and Mitsuaki Hosoya and Shinichi Kuriyama and Shigeo Kure",
note = "Funding Information: 1Department of Pediatrics, Teikyo University School of Medicine, 2Department of Pediatrics, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, 3Department of Medical Subspecialties, National Center for Child Health and Development, 4Japanese Association for Human Auxology, Tokyo, 5Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima, 6Department of Preschool Education, Jumonji University, Niiza, 7Department of Health Sciences, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Medicine and Engineering, University of Yamanashi, Chuo, Departments of 8Pediatrics and 9Molecular Epidemiology, Graduate School of Medicine, 10Department of Disaster Public Health, International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS), and 11Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization (ToMMo), Tohoku University, Sendai and 12Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Iwate Medical University, Morioka, Japan Funding Information: The Nationwide Nursery School Survey on Child Health throughout the Great East Japan Earthquake was performed as part of the Surveillance Study on Child Health in the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster Area and was fully supported by the Health and Labour Sciences Research Grant (H24-jisedai-shi-tei-007, fukkou). The authors wish to express their appreciation to the nursery teachers who completed the questionnaires and to Dr Ikuo Endo, President of the Japan Society for Well-being of Nursery-schoolers, for his support and cooperation. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2017 Japan Pediatric Society",
year = "2017",
month = sep,
doi = "10.1111/ped.13340",
language = "English",
volume = "59",
pages = "1002--1009",
journal = "Pediatrics International",
issn = "1328-8067",
publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",
number = "9",
}