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Environmental Stressors Suffered by Women with Gynecological Cancers in the Aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and María in Puerto Rico

Background: Hurricanes are the immediate ways that people experience climate impacts in the Caribbean. These events affect socio-ecological systems and lead to major disruptions in the healthcare system, having effects on health outcomes. In September 2017, Puerto Rico (PR) and the United States Vir...

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Autores principales: Méndez-Lázaro, Pablo A., Bernhardt, Yanina M., Calo, William A., Pacheco Díaz, Andrea M., García-Camacho, Sandra I., Rivera-Lugo, Mirza, Acosta-Pérez, Edna, Pérez, Naydi, Ortiz-Martínez, Ana P.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8583450/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34769708
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182111183
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author Méndez-Lázaro, Pablo A.
Bernhardt, Yanina M.
Calo, William A.
Pacheco Díaz, Andrea M.
García-Camacho, Sandra I.
Rivera-Lugo, Mirza
Acosta-Pérez, Edna
Pérez, Naydi
Ortiz-Martínez, Ana P.
author_facet Méndez-Lázaro, Pablo A.
Bernhardt, Yanina M.
Calo, William A.
Pacheco Díaz, Andrea M.
García-Camacho, Sandra I.
Rivera-Lugo, Mirza
Acosta-Pérez, Edna
Pérez, Naydi
Ortiz-Martínez, Ana P.
author_sort Méndez-Lázaro, Pablo A.
collection PubMed
description Background: Hurricanes are the immediate ways that people experience climate impacts in the Caribbean. These events affect socio-ecological systems and lead to major disruptions in the healthcare system, having effects on health outcomes. In September 2017, Puerto Rico (PR) and the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) experienced one of the most catastrophic hurricane seasons in recent history (Hurricane Irma was a Category 5 and Hurricane María was a Category 4 when they hit PR). Objective: This study examines environmental stressors experienced by women with gynecologic (GYN) cancers from PR and USVI who received oncologic cancer care in PR, in the aftermath of the hurricanes. Methods: A descriptive qualitative study design was used to obtain rich information for understanding the context, barriers, knowledge, perspectives, risks, vulnerabilities, and attitudes associated to these hurricanes. We performed focus groups among GYN cancer patients (n = 24) and key-informant interviews (n = 21) among health-care providers and administrators. Interviews were conducted from December 2018–April 2019. Results: Environmental health stressors such as lack of water, heat and uncomfortable temperatures, air pollution (air quality), noise pollution, mosquitos, and rats ranked in the top concerns among cancer patients and key-informants. Conclusions: These findings are relevant to cancer patients, decision-makers, and health providers facing extreme events and disasters in the Caribbean. Identifying environmental secondary stressors and the most relevant cascading effects is useful for decision-makers so that they may address and mitigate the effects of hurricanes on public health and cancer care.
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spelling pubmed-85834502021-11-12 Environmental Stressors Suffered by Women with Gynecological Cancers in the Aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and María in Puerto Rico Méndez-Lázaro, Pablo A. Bernhardt, Yanina M. Calo, William A. Pacheco Díaz, Andrea M. García-Camacho, Sandra I. Rivera-Lugo, Mirza Acosta-Pérez, Edna Pérez, Naydi Ortiz-Martínez, Ana P. Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Background: Hurricanes are the immediate ways that people experience climate impacts in the Caribbean. These events affect socio-ecological systems and lead to major disruptions in the healthcare system, having effects on health outcomes. In September 2017, Puerto Rico (PR) and the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) experienced one of the most catastrophic hurricane seasons in recent history (Hurricane Irma was a Category 5 and Hurricane María was a Category 4 when they hit PR). Objective: This study examines environmental stressors experienced by women with gynecologic (GYN) cancers from PR and USVI who received oncologic cancer care in PR, in the aftermath of the hurricanes. Methods: A descriptive qualitative study design was used to obtain rich information for understanding the context, barriers, knowledge, perspectives, risks, vulnerabilities, and attitudes associated to these hurricanes. We performed focus groups among GYN cancer patients (n = 24) and key-informant interviews (n = 21) among health-care providers and administrators. Interviews were conducted from December 2018–April 2019. Results: Environmental health stressors such as lack of water, heat and uncomfortable temperatures, air pollution (air quality), noise pollution, mosquitos, and rats ranked in the top concerns among cancer patients and key-informants. Conclusions: These findings are relevant to cancer patients, decision-makers, and health providers facing extreme events and disasters in the Caribbean. Identifying environmental secondary stressors and the most relevant cascading effects is useful for decision-makers so that they may address and mitigate the effects of hurricanes on public health and cancer care. MDPI 2021-10-25 /pmc/articles/PMC8583450/ /pubmed/34769708 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182111183 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Méndez-Lázaro, Pablo A.
Bernhardt, Yanina M.
Calo, William A.
Pacheco Díaz, Andrea M.
García-Camacho, Sandra I.
Rivera-Lugo, Mirza
Acosta-Pérez, Edna
Pérez, Naydi
Ortiz-Martínez, Ana P.
Environmental Stressors Suffered by Women with Gynecological Cancers in the Aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and María in Puerto Rico
title Environmental Stressors Suffered by Women with Gynecological Cancers in the Aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and María in Puerto Rico
title_full Environmental Stressors Suffered by Women with Gynecological Cancers in the Aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and María in Puerto Rico
title_fullStr Environmental Stressors Suffered by Women with Gynecological Cancers in the Aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and María in Puerto Rico
title_full_unstemmed Environmental Stressors Suffered by Women with Gynecological Cancers in the Aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and María in Puerto Rico
title_short Environmental Stressors Suffered by Women with Gynecological Cancers in the Aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and María in Puerto Rico
title_sort environmental stressors suffered by women with gynecological cancers in the aftermath of hurricanes irma and maría in puerto rico
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8583450/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34769708
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182111183
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