SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM ASSOCIATION BETWEEN URIC-ACID AND A NATURAL DISASTER

Objective: This paper analyzes the longitudinal relationship between s erum uric acid level and a natural disaster. Methods: The sample consi sts of factory workers who were participating in a longitudinal epidem iological study of coronary heart disease risk factors. Participants w ere seen in 1975 (baseline), 1980 (5 year follow-up), and 1987 (12 yea r follow-up). The 5 year (1980) follow-up examination was interrupted by a major earthquake and resumed 2 weeks after the quake. At this exa mination, participants seen after the quake had, on the average, signi ficantly lower serum uric acid than those seen before the earthquake. In 1987 (7 years after the quake), participants were questioned whethe r or not (in their own perception) they were still suffering from dama ges due to the 1980 earthquake, Results: At the examination in 1987, p articipants who reported suffering from damage due to the 1980 quake s howed on the average significantly increased serum uric acid compared with participants who reported not suffering from damages due to the 1 980 quake. The analyses of the data of 578 individuals who participate d in all three examinations confirmed these findings and showed that t hey were independent from levels of uric acid measured prior to the di saster, Conclusions: The reason for this apparent different associatio n with uric acid and acute and long-term exposure to the quake remains to be clarified but these findings are consistent with the existence of diverse patterns of physiologic response to different stressors.