Hurricane Sandy Tied to Higher Heart Disease Risk
THURSDAY, Sept. 11, 2025 -- Older adults living in flood-hit areas after Hurricane Sandy faced a 5 percent higher risk for heart disease for up to five years after landfall, according to a study published online Sept. 3 in JAMA Network Open.
Arnab K. Ghosh, M.D., from Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, and colleagues examined the long-term association between hurricane-related flooding and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. The analysis included 121,395 continuously enrolled Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries residing in New Jersey, New York City, and Connecticut from 2010 through 2017 (63.9 percent living in zip code tabulation areas [ZCTAs] that flooded).
The researchers found that in nonflooded versus flooded ZCTAs, ZCTA-level median income ($81,168 versus $69,650) and median National Area Deprivation Index rank (17.1 versus 21.0) differed, although prevalence of CVD and CVD subtypes were similar at baseline. Five years after hurricane landfall, flooding was associated with an increase in adjusted CVD risk (relative risk, 1.05; 95 percent Bayesian credible interval [bCrIs], 1.01 to 1.08) and heart failure rates overall (relative risk, 1.03; 95 percent bCrIs, 1.00 to 1.08). There were no significant differences for rates of myocardial infarction or stroke in adjusted analyses.
"With this work, we lay the groundwork to show that hurricanes can have long-term impacts on health," Ghosh said in a statement.
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.
© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Read this next
Poor Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic Health Increases Psoriasis Risk
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 10, 2025 -- Poor cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) health is associated with an increased risk for psoriasis, especially for those with high genetic risk...
Acute Normovolemic Hemodilution Cuts Transfusions During Heart Surgery
TUESDAY, Sept. 9, 2025 -- Acute normovolemic hemodilution (ANH) lowers the need for transfusions during cardiopulmonary bypass surgery but is underused in the United States...
hsCRP Can ID Cardiovascular Risk in Women Without Modifiable Risk Factors
MONDAY, Sept. 8, 2025 -- High levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) can identify cardiovascular risk among women who do not have any of the four standard...
More news resources
- FDA Medwatch Drug Alerts
- Daily MedNews
- News for Health Professionals
- New Drug Approvals
- New Drug Applications
- Drug Shortages
- Clinical Trial Results
- Generic Drug Approvals
Subscribe to our newsletter
Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.