262904 Association Between Major Disasters and Health-Related Behaviors: Using BRFSS Data from the Mississippi Gulf Coast

Monday, October 29, 2012 : 10:30 AM - 10:50 AM

Andrew C. Rucks, PhD , Health Care Organization and Policy, University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health, Birmingham, AL
Lisa C. McCormick, DrPH , Health Care Organization and Policy, University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health, Birmingham, AL
Peter M. Ginter, PhD , Health Care Organization and Policy, University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health, Birmingham, AL
Charles Katholi, PhD , Department of Biostatistics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
Rongbing Xie, MPH , Department of Health Care Organization and Policy, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
Jesse Pervear III, MSPH , BRFSS Cooordinator, Alabama Department of Public Health, Montgomery, AL
  
     
For the years 2004 through 2010, the Mississippi Gulf Coast experienced six major disasters including five, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Disaster Declarations and the Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill (Gulf Oil Spill). This paper examines the association of these events and changes in Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data. The Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) collects BRFSS data by Public Health District and District IX contains the six counties that border the Gulf of Mexico and adjacent counties. Selected BRFSS data for MSDH District IX are compared with the same data for MSDH District II, an eleven-county area in the northeast area of the state. Using chi square and time series analysis and controlling for dissimilar events in MSDH District II, analysis of the data for the period 2004 through 2010, reveals that the six events affecting District IX adversely affected health measures and demographics and that these effects were significantly different from those MSDH District II which exhibited no variation in health measures and demographics. In addition, the analysis suggests a cumulative health and risk factor effects of the series of significant disasters in MSDH District IX.

Learning Areas:
Program planning
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines
Public health or related public policy
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
1. To demonstrate the adverse effect of disasters on health and risk factors. 2. To compare health measures for populations experiencing disasters with health measures of a population not experiencing the same set of disasters. 3. To identify critical behavioral risk factors impacted by disasters. 4. To make recommendations for post disaster rehabilitation efforts. 5. To demonstrate the efficacy of using BRFSS data to evaluate impact of disasters on public health.

Keywords: Risk Factors, Public Health Research

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have the Master of Public Health (MPH) degree in Preparedness Management and Policy. I am also a DrPH (Doctor of Public Health) Student focusing on Outcome Research in the Department of Health Care Organization and Policy at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). I am responsible for data analysis for this project and work under the close supervision of Dr. Katholi and the guidance of Drs. Rucks and Ginter.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3121.0: Emergency and Disaster Preparedness & Response for Vulnerable and Diverse Populations