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| Titel |
Correlation between Seismicity and Mental Health: Crete, 2008-2010 |
| VerfasserIn |
George C. Anagnostopoulos |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2013
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 15 (2013) |
| Datensatznummer |
250075730
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| Zusammenfassung |
| We present, for the first time, the results from a research on the possible influence of
seismicity to the mental health of a population not exposed to trauma. The research was
inspired by the results of (a) recent research on various electromagnetic phenomena related
with earthquakes, (b) several experiments of electric, magnetic and electromagnetic effects on
animals’ behavior, (c) the electric and electromagnetic activity of the neural network of the
brain and (d) the treatment of brain functions with traditional electric or electromagnetic
methods. The Research was basically baised on a comparison of the number of M>2
earthquakes NE in a area including the island of Crete (210-290E, 32.50-380N), Greece, to
the admissions to the Psychiatric Inpatient Unit of the University of Crete IPU/UoC) during
the years 2008-2010. It was found that the number of monthly admissions to the Acute Care
Unit of the IPU/UoC NAA reached their lowest values during, and in particular at the end
(NAA=2; July 2008) of “a storm of strong earthquakes” in 2008 (G. Papadopoulos, EOS, 90,
46, 2009). On the contrary, the number of monthly admissions NAA increased with
increasing the monthly number NE of earthquakes (EQs) during the rest of the time
period 2008-2010, and showed a maximum rate (NAA= 31) during the month with
the highest number of EQs (NE=70; August 2010) throughout the entire period
examined. During the second period (October 2008-December 2010) we found a
positive correlation between the total number of monthly admissions NA with the
number of EQs NE (r=0.601 / P=0.001). When a daily resolution analysis was
performed for the month with highest number of EQs NE(August 2010), we found that
an abrupt appearance of a cluster of small earthquakes near Crete was followed
by an increase in the number of acute admissions NAA, with a delay time of ~2
days. We hypothesize that seismic activity might be a major factor influencing the
frequency of admissions of psychotic disorders in Crete in the period 2008-2010
and that the beneficial / adverse effects are related with the EQ-related anomalous
electric field / ELF-ULF emissions (Anagnostopoulos et al. Geom., Nat. Haz. &
Risk, 2012 submitted). Preliminary results on the influence of seismicity (NE) to
various types of psychiatric disorders will be also discussed in the presentation. |
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