Behavioral Health in the Gulf Coast Region following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.

摘要

This report describes the results of data collection efforts conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) related to the behavioral health (mental health and substance use) of residents of the Gulf Coast affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The oil spill began with the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20, 2010, which resulted in the spilling of an estimated 210 million gallons of crude oil before the well was capped on July 15, 2010. Behavioral health problems documented after previous disasters such as the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 led to predictions of similar behavioral health problems following the Gulf Coast oil spill. The data collection efforts described in this report, which were funded by BP, focused on residents of the counties or parishes in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi that were most directly affected by the spill. The SAMHSA data collection consisted of adding a supplemental sample of approximately 2,000 interviews in the four affected States to the 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), an annual survey of drug use and mental health problems among the civilian, household population aged 12 or older. A majority of these additional interviews were conducted on residents of the Gulf Coast Disaster Area (GCDA), consisting of 32 counties or parishes on or near the Gulf of Mexico. The CDC data collection consisted of the Gulf States Population Survey (GSPS), a telephone survey of approximately 38,000 residents in those same four States from December 2010 to December 2011, with the majority of the interviews conducted in 25 coastal counties.