Nearly 1,000 people killed by Hurrican Katrina in Louisiana

For immediate release
August 28, 2008

CHICAGO – Nearly 1,000 people died of Hurricane Katrina-related deaths in Louisiana, according to a new study released on the eve of the third anniversary of the deadly storm. The study, published online today by the American Medical Association Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness journal, is the first to combine multiple death databases for a comprehensive review of the mortality rates for Louisiana during the storm. The study is available ahead of print and will be published in the journal's October issue.

Hurricane Katrina was the deadliest hurricane to strike the U.S. Gulf Coast since 1928, concluded study authors from the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with 986 deaths in Louisiana tied to the storm. Drowning was the leading cause of death at 40 percent, followed by injury and trauma, and then heart conditions. The elderly was the most affected group, with almost half the victims 75 or older. Eight out of 10 deaths occurred on the day of the storm – August 29, 2005 – and the overwhelming majority of those who died resided in Orleans Parish.

"What we learned from Hurricane Katrina is that disaster preparedness efforts must focus on evacuating and caring for vulnerable populations—particularly the elderly—including those in hospitals, nursing homes and private residences," said lead study author Joan Brunkard, PhD of the CDC.

"We need to understand why people didn't evacuate and what kinds of assistance and assurances might be needed in the future to get people to evacuate on a timely basis," added study co-author Raoult Ratard, MD, Louisiana State Epidemiologist.

An independent editorial also released online today by Lynn Lawry MD and Frederick M. Burkle Jr, MD. suggests that to calculate the full human cost of Hurricane Katrina the scope of the examination must be expanded to also include harder to measure indirect deaths. For example, a 2007 study of death notices in a local New Orleans newspaper found that the mortality rate in New Orleans for the first six months of 2006 increased by 47 percent from the baseline mortality, suggesting a marked increase in indirect deaths from Katrina many months after the hurricane. "Indirect deaths can be prevented if authorities anticipate and plan for the consequences of a destroyed or poorly recovered public health infrastructure," said Dr. Burkle.

"More than 2.5 million people were displaced throughout the United States from the storm, which is equivalent to 10 percent of the world's internally displaced people," said Dr. Lawry. "While it is much harder to measure the storm's impact on the displaced people, if we acknowledge both the direct and indirect effects of natural disasters we can better prepare for future disasters. Tailoring recovery programs to address the basic human needs of food, shelter, security, clean water, education and access to both basic health and mental health care can help reduce overall mortality from natural disasters."

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This article is available ahead of print and the full journal will publish on Oct. 9, 2008. There will be a special issue published on Sept. 9, 2008.

Note to reporters: To obtain complete online access to the journal, contact AMA Media Relations at (312) 464-4813 and provide appropriate press credentials. The AMA's Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness journal maintains editorial independence and the statements and opinions in the journal, including the articles referenced above, are not those of the AMA or Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

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