BACKGROUND: Japan is located in an area prone to natural disasters, and major earthquakes have occurred recently in rural areas where the proportion of elderly adults is high. Although elderly @entity1 are vulnerable members of communities at a time of disaster, the prevalence of @entity146 among this population has yet to be reported in Japan. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of @entity146 and suicidal thoughts among community-dwelling elderly @entity1 3 years after an earthquake and to identify risk factors associated with their quality of life (QOL). METHODS: Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 496 community-dwelling @entity1 aged 65 years or older in areas of Japan where 2 major earthquakes had occurred during a 3-year period. The main outcome was diagnosis of a @entity146 or suicidality. RESULTS: During the 3-year period after the earthquake, 1.6% of @entity1 and 5.5% of @entity1 had received a diagnosis of @entity308 . There were no cases of @entity1005 . @entity1 were more likely than @entity1 to report suicidality (7.8% vs 3.8%, P = 0.075). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of @entity146 was lower than that reported in previous studies. Despite the low prevalence of @entity146 , the percentage of community-dwelling elderly @entity1 with subclinical mental health symptoms was high. The results indicate that appropriate public health and medical interventions are warranted after a natural disaster.

Prevalence of XXXX and suicidal thoughts among community-dwelling elderly adults 3 years after the niigata-chuetsu earthquake.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['women', 'Women', 'persons', 'men'] @entity308 :: ('MESH:D003866', 'Disease') :: ['major depression'] @entity1005 :: ('MESH:D013313', 'Disease') :: ['posttraumatic stress disorder'] @entity146 :: ('MESH:D001523', 'Disease') :: ['mental disorders', 'mental disorder']
@entity146 :: (MESH:D001523,Disease) :: ['mental disorders']
