Time to recovery in diabetes and comorbidities following Hurricane Katrina.

BACKGROUND The impact of a natural disaster on self-care and health care delivery has been well documented. The objective of the study was to document the recovery pattern from the impact of a natural disaster such as Hurricane Katrina on clinical and biochemical measures of diabetes and its comorbidities. METHODS Patients were selected from Tulane University Hospital and Clinic, Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System, and the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans. Adults with diabetes and A(1c) measurement 6 months before (pre-K) Hurricane Katrina (February 28, 2005-August 27, 2005) and 6 to 16 months after (post-K) Katrina (March 1, 2006-December 31, 2006) were identified within the 3 facilities. Follow-up data (January 1, 2007-December 31, 2007) were 1 year after the first post-K visit. The outcome measures were hemoglobin A(1c) (HbA(1c)), systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP), and lipids (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol [HDL], triglycerides). RESULTS Averaged across the 3 facilities, the parameters significantly different in the follow-up period compared with pre- and post-K were HbA(1c) (P = .04), HDL, and systolic and diastolic BP (P < .0001). Parameters with significantly different patterns of change in the 3 facilities over time were HbA(1c), HDL, systolic and diastolic BP (P < .0001), and low-density lipoprotein (P < .01). CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that a variety of clinical and biochemical parameters related to diabetes and its comorbidities affected by natural disaster have varied the rate of recovery to predisaster levels.