Impact of Hurricane Sandy on Injury Related Hospitalizations in Affected Areas of New York State

BACKGROUND:  Limited research data are available regarding the short- and long-term health effects of extreme weather events such as hurricanes. Most prior studies evaluating the health impact from Hurricane Katrina were limited to mental health rather than other biologically-plausible diseases.  To fill the research gaps, this project evaluated the effects of Sandy on hospital admissions due to injuries and how these differed by demographic characteristics.  

METHODS: This study is a retrospective cohort design using a poison regression analysis to assess the effects of the Hurricane on injury hospitalizations in the New York State.  Hospitalization data (2001-2012) were obtained from a statewide hospital discharge database.  Injury outcomes were extracted based on ICD9 external causes on injuries codes (E850, E880 – E915).  This study incorporates two key comparisons; 1) Storm zone are geographic locations prone to flooding and 2) each area compared to its own baseline time period.  Our study has three evaluation time periods: 1) Hurricane Sandy period (10/28 – 11/9/12); 2) three months after Sandy period and 3) one year after Sandy. This presentation will focus on the immediate Sandy period.  The current analysis evaluated the hospitalization injury rates around the time period of the hurricane (10/28-11/9/12) in the affected areas with those outcomes in preceding years as well as the non-storm zone areas. The final regression models were stratified by county and adjusted for long-term temporal trends and short-term day of the week effects.

RESULTS:  Comparing the time during the hurricane with the previous years, residents living in storm zone areas were at significant risk for injuries, with the highest risk among residents in Nassau county (RR 1.54 CI: 1.27-1.88).  Comparing the risk of the hurricane in storm zone areas with non-storm zone areas, we again found Nassau County with the highest ratio (Risk Ratio 1.42 CI: 1.12-1.80).  Similarly, in the combined eight county analysis including: Westchester, Nassau, Suffolk, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Mahattan and Staten Island, we found a significantly higher risk ratio for residents in the storm zone areas (Risk Ratio 1.26 CI: 1.14-1.39). 

CONCLUSIONS:  This study found evidence that persons living in geographic areas prone to storm surges had a significantly higher risk for injuries than persons living inland. The findings demonstrate the need for public health warning of the potential risk of injuries associated with hurricanes.