Emergency Preparedness in Older Adults With and Without COPD During Power Outages and Natural Disasters.

IF 2 3区医学 Q2 GERONTOLOGY

Journal of Applied Gerontology Pub Date : 2026-10-01 Epub Date: 2026-03-04 DOI:10.1177/07334648261431433

Alejandro P Comellas, Emma M Stapleton, Brandi Janssen, Hans-Joachim Lehmler, Peter S Thorne, Jacqueline Curnick, Kimberly Sprenger, Deborah O'Connell, Eric Garcia, Eric Bruening, Aniket Mittal, Sato Ashida

{"title":"Emergency Preparedness in Older Adults With and Without COPD During Power Outages and Natural Disasters.","authors":"Alejandro P Comellas, Emma M Stapleton, Brandi Janssen, Hans-Joachim Lehmler, Peter S Thorne, Jacqueline Curnick, Kimberly Sprenger, Deborah O'Connell, Eric Garcia, Eric Bruening, Aniket Mittal, Sato Ashida","doi":"10.1177/07334648261431433","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Rural older adults, particularly those with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), face significant risks to medical care during power outages caused by natural disasters. This cross-sectional study surveyed 222 Iowan adults aged 45-80 between March and May 2024 to assess disaster preparedness for power outages. Nearly nine in 10 participants experienced recent outages, yet 42% maintained a specific medical care plan for such events. Those with COPD exhibited moderately greater levels of preparedness, including higher rates of saving extra medication and establishing emergency communication plans. They were also twice as likely to have a care plan or emergency medication. Despite these gains, comprehensive preparedness remained low. The study highlights that recurrent disasters, such as windstorms and wildfire smoke, expose critical gaps in medical and emergency planning in rural communities. These results underscore the urgent need for tailored, disease-specific strategies and educational interventions to strengthen disaster resilience among rural populations.</p>","PeriodicalId":47970,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Applied Gerontology","volume":" ","pages":"1932-1940"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0000,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13082437/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Applied Gerontology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/07334648261431433","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2026/3/4 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"GERONTOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Rural older adults, particularly those with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), face significant risks to medical care during power outages caused by natural disasters. This cross-sectional study surveyed 222 Iowan adults aged 45-80 between March and May 2024 to assess disaster preparedness for power outages. Nearly nine in 10 participants experienced recent outages, yet 42% maintained a specific medical care plan for such events. Those with COPD exhibited moderately greater levels of preparedness, including higher rates of saving extra medication and establishing emergency communication plans. They were also twice as likely to have a care plan or emergency medication. Despite these gains, comprehensive preparedness remained low. The study highlights that recurrent disasters, such as windstorms and wildfire smoke, expose critical gaps in medical and emergency planning in rural communities. These results underscore the urgent need for tailored, disease-specific strategies and educational interventions to strengthen disaster resilience among rural populations.

查看原文本刊更多论文

停电和自然灾害期间有和没有COPD的老年人的应急准备

农村老年人，特别是那些患有慢性阻塞性肺病的老年人，在自然灾害造成的停电期间面临着重大的医疗风险。这项横断面研究在2024年3月至5月期间调查了222名年龄在45-80岁之间的爱荷华成年人，以评估停电的灾难准备。近十分之九的参与者最近经历了停电，但42%的参与者为此类事件制定了特定的医疗保健计划。慢性阻塞性肺病患者表现出更高的准备水平，包括更高的节省额外药物和建立应急沟通计划的比率。他们有护理计划或紧急药物治疗的可能性是其他人的两倍。尽管取得了这些成果，但全面防范水平仍然很低。该研究强调，风暴和野火烟雾等经常性灾害暴露出农村社区在医疗和应急规划方面存在严重差距。这些结果突出表明，迫切需要制定针对具体疾病的量身定制战略和教育干预措施，以加强农村人口的抗灾能力。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Journal of Applied Gerontology GERONTOLOGY-

CiteScore

5.10

自引率

13.30%

发文量

202

期刊介绍： The Journal of Applied Gerontology (JAG) is the official journal of the Southern Gerontological Society. It features articles that focus on research applications intended to improve the quality of life of older persons or to enhance our understanding of age-related issues that will eventually lead to such outcomes. We construe application broadly and encourage contributions across a range of applications toward those foci, including interventions, methodology, policy, and theory. Manuscripts from all disciplines represented in gerontology are welcome. Because the circulation and intended audience of JAG is global, contributions from international authors are encouraged.