Characteristics of confirmed pneumonia cases by residence, before and after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Kesennuma City, Miyagi, Japan
| Pre-disaster period (1 March 2010–10 March 2011)† | Post-disaster period (11 March–30 June 2011)† | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residential category* | Residential category** | Pre-disaster vs post-disaster period p Value‡ | ||||||
| Characteristics | Total (n=225) | Home (n=193) | Nursing home (n=32) | Total (n=217) | Home (n=117) | Nursing home (n=40) | Evacuation shelter (n=60) | |
| Female sex (%) | 98 (43.6) | 77 (39.9) | 21 (65.6) | 93 (42.9) | 46 (39.3) | 26 (65) | 21 (35) | 0.882 |
| Age category (%) | ||||||||
| 18–49 years | 13 (5.8) | 12 (6.2) | 1 (3.1) | 4 (1.8) | 3 (2.6) | 0 (0) | 1 (1.7) | 0.161§ |
| 50–64 years | 21 (9.3) | 20 (10.4) | 1 (3.1) | 18 (8.3) | 10 (8.6) | 3 (7.5) | 5 (8.3) | |
| 65–79 years | 61 (27.1) | 56 (29) | 5 (15.6) | 67 (30.9) | 32 (27.4) | 6 (15) | 29 (48.3) | |
| ≥80 years | 130 (57.8) | 105 (54.4) | 25 (78.1) | 128 (59) | 72 (61.5) | 31 (77.5) | 25 (41.7) | |
| Duration of symptoms before admission (%) | ||||||||
| ≤2 days | 109 (48.4) | 91 (47.2) | 18 (56.3) | 114 (52.5) | 59 (50.4) | 25 (62.5) | 30 (50) | 0.434 |
| 3 days or more | 109 (48.4) | 96 (49.7) | 13 (40.6) | 98 (45.2) | 54 (46.2) | 14 (35) | 30 (50) | |
| Antibiotics prescribed before admission (%) | 32 (14.2) | 23 (11.9) | 9 (28.1) | 29 (13.4) | 7 (6) | 10 (25) | 12 (20) | 0.794 |
| With underlying conditions (%) | 129 (57.3) | 107 (55.4) | 22 (68.7) | 121 (55.8) | 64 (54.7) | 30 (75) | 27 (45) | 0.739 |
| CURB65 score (%) | ||||||||
| 3–5 (severe) | 26 (11.6) | 23 (11.9) | 3 (9.4) | 27 (12.4) | 10 (8.6) | 13 (32.5) | 4 (6.7) | 0.916 |
| 0–2 (less severe) | 186 (82.7) | 159 (82.4) | 27 (84.4) | 179 (82.5) | 97 (82.9) | 26 (65) | 56 (93.3) | |
| Deceased (%) | 39 (17.3) | 31 (16.1) | 8 (25) | 52 (24) | 28 (23.9) | 18 (45) | 6 (10) | 0.085 |
| Microbiological tests performed | 145 (64.4) | 129 (66.8) | 16 (50) | 139 (64.1) | 74 (63.3) | 22 (55) | 43 (71.7) | 0.932 |
| Positive for Streptococcus pneumoniae¶ | 15 (6.7) | 13 (6.7) | 2 (6.3) | 22 (10.1) | 9 (7.7) | 4 (10) | 9 (15) | 0.402 |
| Positive for Haemophilus influenzae | 3 (1.3) | 3 (1.5) | 0 (0) | 14 (6.5) | 7 (6) | 0 (0) | 7 (11.7) | 0.013§ |
| Positive for Klebsiella pneumoniae | 8 (3.6) | 6 (3.1) | 2 (6.2) | 11 (5.1) | 5 (4.3) | 4 (10) | 2 (3.3) | 0.698 |
*The characteristics differed by residential categories for gender (p=0.007) and pre-hospital antibiotic treatment (p=0.015).
†The pre-disaster and pos-disaster cases were categorised according to the date of onset. The near-drowning-related cases were excluded.
‡Characteristics were compared between the pre-disaster and post-disaster cases. χ2 tests were performed unless otherwise indicated.
§Fisher's exact test.
¶Either a bacterial culture was isolated or a rapid urinary antigen test was positive.
**The characteristics differed by residential categories for gender (p=0.006), age group (p=0.012), pre-hospital antibiotic treatment (p=0.002), presence of underlying conditions (p=0.012), clinical severity (p<0.001) and fatality (p<0.001).