@article{ref1,
title="Impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake on child's intelligence quotient",
journal="Journal of pediatrics",
year="2015",
author="Tatsuta, Nozomi and Nakai, Kunihiko and Satoh, Hiroshi and Murata, Katsuyuki",
volume="167",
number="3",
pages="745-751",
abstract="OBJECTIVE: To assess the neurodevelopmental effects of the Great East Japan Earthquake in resident children. STUDY DESIGN: The disaster on March 11, 2011, caused severe damage to the Sanriku coastal area, where we had been conducting a birth cohort study since 2003. It occurred in the middle of our 7-year-old examination. Approximately 500 mother-child pairs were compulsorily divided into 2 groups: 123 children finished the examination in the predisaster period, and 289 did in the postdisaster period. The remainder died or moved from that area. At the time of 7-year-old examination, we administered the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition and electrocardiography to assess autonomic function. According to the Child Behavior Checklist for ages 2-3 and the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children that had been administered at 30 months and 42 months of age, respectively, there were no significant differences in them between the 2 groups. <br><br>RESULTS: Verbal IQ, including information, arithmetic, and vocabulary subscores of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition, at 7 years of age was significantly lower in the postdisaster group than in the predisaster group. However, there were no significant differences in performance IQ, full-scale IQ, or autonomic nervous indicators between the 2 groups. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Since many schools were utilized as primary refuges after the disaster, the deficits in verbal IQ of 7-year-old children may have been due to the interrupted schooling. Further follow-up and more specific posttraumatic stress disorder testing will be required to determine the cause and long-term implications.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0022-3476",
doi="10.1016/j.jpeds.2015.06.033",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2015.06.033"
}