TY - JOUR
T1 - A study of correlation between seismicity and mental health
T2 - Crete, 2008–2010
AU - Anagnostopoulos, G. C.
AU - Basta, M.
AU - Stefanakis, Z.
AU - Vassiliadis, V. G.
AU - Vgontzas, A. N.
AU - Rigas, A. G.
AU - Koutsomitros, S. T.
AU - Baloyannis, S. J.
AU - Papadopoulos, G.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2013 Taylor & Francis.
PY - 2015/1/2
Y1 - 2015/1/2
N2 - We compared the number of M > 2 earthquakes in an area, including the island of Crete, Greece, to the number of admissions to the Psychiatric Inpatient Unit of the University of Crete (IPU/UoC), during the period 2008–2010. We found that when earthquakes with M (Formula presented.) 6.4 occurred in the region examined, the number of monthly admissions to the Acute Care Unit of the IPU/UoC, NAA, reached lowest values, whereas this number increased when the monthly number NEof small (M < 3) earthquakes increased. We also found a positive correlation between the total number of monthly admissions NAand NE(r = 0.601/P = 0.001). When a daily resolution analysis was performed for the month with the highest value of NE, we found that an abrupt increase in the number of small earthquakes was followed by an increase in the number of admissions after ∼2 days (during that month, from a total of 71 patients, 38/10 people were diagnosed with schizophrenia/bipolar disorder). We hypothesize that seismic activity might be a significant contributing factor influencing the frequency of admissions of psychotic disorders in Crete in the period 2008–2010 and that the beneficial/adverse effects are related to the anomalous electric field/extra low frequency–ultra low frequency emissions.
AB - We compared the number of M > 2 earthquakes in an area, including the island of Crete, Greece, to the number of admissions to the Psychiatric Inpatient Unit of the University of Crete (IPU/UoC), during the period 2008–2010. We found that when earthquakes with M (Formula presented.) 6.4 occurred in the region examined, the number of monthly admissions to the Acute Care Unit of the IPU/UoC, NAA, reached lowest values, whereas this number increased when the monthly number NEof small (M < 3) earthquakes increased. We also found a positive correlation between the total number of monthly admissions NAand NE(r = 0.601/P = 0.001). When a daily resolution analysis was performed for the month with the highest value of NE, we found that an abrupt increase in the number of small earthquakes was followed by an increase in the number of admissions after ∼2 days (during that month, from a total of 71 patients, 38/10 people were diagnosed with schizophrenia/bipolar disorder). We hypothesize that seismic activity might be a significant contributing factor influencing the frequency of admissions of psychotic disorders in Crete in the period 2008–2010 and that the beneficial/adverse effects are related to the anomalous electric field/extra low frequency–ultra low frequency emissions.
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U2 - 10.1080/19475705.2013.819385
DO - 10.1080/19475705.2013.819385
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84911370607
SN - 1947-5705
VL - 6
SP - 45
EP - 75
JO - Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk
JF - Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk
IS - 1
ER -
