Kobe Earthquake and Patients With Anorexia Nervosa

The earthquake¹ that hit the city of Kobe, Japan, January 17, 1995, caused health problems in Kobe citizens, some of whom had hypertension,² diabetes mellitus, or chronic renal failure with hemodialysis.³ After the earthquake, people began to consume foods that were higher in fat and energy; therefore, control of blood glucose levels in patients with diabetes mellitus became more difficult (A.I., H. Kitaoka, MD, PhD, M. Majima, MD, PhD, et al, unpublished data, 1995). Since the earthquake was a life-threatening stress, we decided to study its impact on patients with anorexia nervosa, most of whom had distorted cognition toward food and their health status.

Ten patients with anorexia who fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition, Revised⁴ and who lived in the most severely destroyed areas of Kobe were included in our study. We examined change in body weight