A Review of Disaster Health Research Literature to Develop an Online Tools Inventory Resource for Research Responders

Background/Objectives

Rapidly implemented research tools are critical for gathering baseline data to assess the health impact following disasters.   Yet, there is scant information on the use of research tools at baseline in previous disasters.  We conducted a review of the disaster research literature to identify and characterize research tools with the goal of creating an NLM-hosted online resource for scientific collaboration.   

Methods

Using broad and specific search terms, we searched PubMed for peer-reviewed post-disaster literature that describes the use of research tools measuring the health impact on the affected community.  The tools were further characterized by length, burden, mode of administration, accessibility and other factors to assess their feasibility for use in the immediate post-disaster setting.  An inventory of these tools is included in NLM’s Resource Guide for Disaster Medicine and Public Health.  

Results

The initial search yielded over ten thousand articles.  After inclusion/exclusion criteria were applied, a total of 544 disaster research studies underwent a full-text review and over 200 unique research tools were cataloged.  A diverse range of disaster types were represented including earthquakes (25%), terrorism events (19%), tsunamis (12%) and hurricanes (11%).  The majority of research tools measured mental health (64%) impact.  Other data collection tools assessed general health impact, demographic/lifestyle factors and disaster-specific exposures.     

Conclusions

A variety of standardized disaster research tools were identified through an extensive literature review and assembled into an NLM database to facilitate their use in the immediate post-disaster environment.  Specific tools of interest will be discussed followed by a demo of the NLM resource inventory.