Background: We assessed whether the occurrence of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) with cardiac origin increased in the disaster areas during the 3-year period after the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE).Methods and Results:From the OHCA registry in Japan, yearly changes in occurrence after the GEJE were assessed by applying Poisson regression models. The risk ratio of the first year after the earthquake was significantly greater in both men and women, but the difference disappeared in the second and third years.
Conclusions: The GEJE significantly increased the occurrence of OHCA with cardiac origin in the first year after the earthquake.
Keywords: Cardiac arrest; Earthquakes; Epidemiology; Sudden death.