Earthquake as a Trigger of Acute Attacks in People with Hereditary Angioedema

Year 2024, Volume: 51 Issue: 1, 46 - 53, 14.03.2024

Müge Erbay , Can Tuzer , Merve Erkoç , Merve Erkoç

https://doi.org/10.5798/dicletip.1451503

Abstract

Objectives: Two major earthquakes with 7.7 and 7.6 magnitudes struck the southeastern region of Turkey on February 6th, 2023. Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is an inherited disease that can be worsened by psychological factors and physical trauma.Our study aimed to evaluate the effect of earthquake and earthquake-related anxiety, depression and stress factors in HAE patients.
Methods: The study was conducted on patients with HAE who are located in the southeastern region of Turkey.The mental-health-status was evaluated with Depression-Anxiety-Stress-Scale(DASS-21).
Results: Sixty-three HAE patients were includedin the study. More than half(n:33, 52.4%) were female andthe median age was 31(26-42) years. DASS-Stress, DASS-Anxiety,and DASS-Depression scores revealed that 25(39.7%), 37(58.7%) and 32(50.8%) patients had abnormal stress, anxiety and depression status, respectively. The numbers of post-earthquake attacks and icatibant injections were significantly higher than the ones in the pre-earthquake period(p<0.001). The attacks in the post-earthquake period were more severe than those in the pre-earthquake period(p<0.001). In the correlation analysis, the damage level in the buildings significantly correlated with the number of attacks and attack severities in the post-earthquake period(p:0.025, r:0.281 and p:0.042, r:0.257; respectively).
Conclusions: The study revealed an increase in both the number and severity of attacks among HAE patients following the earthquake. Positive correlations between the number, and severity of HAE attacks and DASS-21 anxiety, stress and depression were observed.Hence, it is crucial to offer psychological support to HAE patients in the event of an earthquake.

Keywords

Earthquake, Hereditary angioedema, Depression-Anxiety-Stress, Fear of Earthquake

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