Birth Outcomes after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Disaster: A Long-Term Retrospective Study

Leppold, Claire; Nomura, Shuhei; Sawano, Toyoaki; Ozaki, Akihiko; Tsubokura, Masaharu; Hill, Sarah; Kanazawa, Yukio; Anbe, Hiroshi

doi:10.3390/ijerph14050542

Cited by 19 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…29 The study by Leppold et al also failed to find any significant changes in preterm delivery and LBW rate after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster, compared with the preceding years. 30 Many factors other than prenatal stress play a role in pregnancy outcome, the integration of which determines the LBW rate; moreover, it is likely that the women in both areas of our study had experienced stress to some extent, and this might have led to the nonsignificant difference between them for LBW rate.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Varzaghan Earthquake Affected Mothers’ and Their Newborns’ Health More Severely, in Socioeconomically Vulnerable Area

Esfandyari

Vaghef-Mehrabany

Ebrahimi-Mameghani

2018

Disaster med. public health prep.

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ObjectiveWe aimed to compare the pregnancy status of the pregnant women and birth status of their newborns, socioeconomic status, and access to health services, between high- and low-damage areas in Heris, affected by the Varzaghan Earthquake, 2012.MethodsThe study was conducted on pregnant women at any trimester of pregnancy (with complete medical profiles in local health centers) in August 2012 (time of the earthquake) who lived in Heris and delivered up to March 2013. Data were obtained on pregnancy- and infant-related variables, housing, socioeconomic status, and access to health services, including food supplies, before and after the earthquake.ResultsFamily income and mothers’ education were lower in highly damaged areas. Among these women, underweight at first trimester of pregnancy was higher, and weight gain during the last trimester was lower, compared with low-damage regions. Preterm delivery was higher in low-damage areas. Birth indices of the infants were not significantly different between the 2 areas; however, in highly damaged areas, moderate malnutrition was more prevalent among children under 1 year (weight-for-age) and under 2 years (height-for-age).ConclusionsSocioeconomic status of mothers was lower in highly damaged areas and might have played a role in their own and newborns’ health status. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2019;13: 511-518)

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Varzaghan Earthquake Affected Mothers’ and Their Newborns’ Health More Severely, in Socioeconomically Vulnerable Area

Esfandyari

Vaghef-Mehrabany

Ebrahimi-Mameghani

2018

Disaster med. public health prep.

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“…There was no increased LBWp in any year from 2011 onward. However, with 4 years before/after the accident, i.e., 140 births per year, which means about 10 LBW-births per year, it was unlikely to receive a meaningful result, i.e., there is a large type-2 error probability in this study [39]. A more recent investigation considered 12,804 maternal outcomes during 2011-2014 in the Fukushima Prefecture [40].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…Among the investigations after the Fukushima nuclear accidents, there are reports that LBW is increasing and reports that deny the increase. In the following we shortly address two reports that are questionnaire-4 based surveys with a response rate in the 50% range and one survey of a small number of births in one clinic in Fukushima [38][39][40]. Questionnaire-based studies are prone to selection bias and studies with small populations (mostly in clinical settings) may likely entail type-2 errors [41].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since this study [38] had a participation rate of below 60%, it is likely that significant effects would be obtained with lager populations considered during longer periods. Maternal and perinatal data (2008 to 2015) were retrospectively collected for singleton live births at a hospital located 23 km from the Fukushima nuclear power plant [39]. In 1101 births, LBWp was compared pre-and post-disaster.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spatiotemporal association of low birth weight with Cs-137 deposition after Fukushima at the prefecture level in Japan: an ecological study

Scherb¹

2020

Preprint

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Background: Perinatal mortality increased in contaminated prefectures after the Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accidents in Japan in 2011. Elevated numbers of surgeries for cryptorchidism and congenital heart malformations were observed throughout Japan from 2012 onward. The thyroid cancer detection rate (2011 to 2016) was associated with the dose-rate at the municipality level in the Fukushima prefecture. Since the birth weight is a simple and objective indicator for gestational development and pregnancy outcome, the question arises whether the annual birth weight distribution was distorted in a dose-rate-dependent manner across Japan after Fukushima. Data and Methods: The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare provides prefecture-specific annual counts for 26.158 million live births from 1995 to 2018, of which 2.366 million births (9.04%) with weights < 2500g. Prefecture-specific spatiotemporal trends of the low birth weight proportions were analyzed. Logistic regression allowing for level-shifts from 2012 onward was employed to test whether those level-shifts were proportional to the prefecture-specific dose-rates derived from Cs-137 deposition in the 47 Japanese prefectures. Results: The overall trend of the low birth weight proportion (LBWp) in Japan discloses a jump in 2012 with a jump odds ratio (OR) 1.020, 95%-confidence interval (1.003,1.037), p-value 0.0225. A logistic regression of LBWp on the additional dose-rate after Fukushima adjusted for prefecture-specific spatiotemporal base-line trends yields an OR per µSv/h of 1.098 (1.058, 1.139), p-value < 0.0001. Further adjusting the logistic regression for the annual population size and physician density of the prefectures, as well as for the counts of the dead, the missing, and the evacuees due to earthquake and tsunami (as surrogate measures for medical infrastructure and stress) yields an OR per µSv/h of 1.109 (1.032, 1.191), p-value 0.0046. Conclusion: This study shows increased low birth weight prevalence related to Cs-137 deposition and the corresponding additional dose-rate in Japan from 2012 onward. Previous evidence suggesting compromised gestational development and pregnancy outcome under elevated environmental ionizing radiation exposure is corroborated.

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“…Moreover, the few existing studies of prolonged effects of disasters on reproductive outcomes among the survivors reported mixed results, with one showing negative effects among women exposed to the 2001 World Trade Center disaster in Unites States [ 10 ] and another showing no effects among the women experienced the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan [ 11 ]. Thus, the long-term effects of disasters remain unclear and are worthy of further investigation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal exposure to Wenchuan earthquake and prolonged risk of offspring birth outcomes: a natural experiment study

Zhang

et al. 2020

BMC Pregnancy Childbirth

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Background The prolonged effects of disasters on reproductive outcomes among the survivors are less studied, and the findings are inconsistent. We examined the associations of maternal exposure to the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake years before conception with adverse birth outcomes. Methods We included 73,493 women who delivered in 96 hospitals in 24 provinces and autonomous regions from the 2015/16 China Labor and Delivery Survey. We weighted the multivariable logistic models based on the combination of coarsened exact matching (CEM) weight and survey weight, and performed sex-stratified analysis to test whether associations of maternal earthquake exposure with adverse birth outcomes (Stillbirth, preterm birth [PTB], low birthweight [LBW], and small for gestational age [SGA]) varied by sex. Results The bivariate models showed that the weighted incidence of each adverse birth outcome was higher in exposed group than unexposed group: stillbirth (2.00% vs. 1.33%), PTB (14.14% vs. 7.32%), LBW (10.82% vs. 5.76%), and SGA (11.32% vs. 9.52%). The multivariable models showed maternal earthquake exposure was only associated significantly with a higher risk of PTB in offspring among all births (adjusted risk ratio [aRR](95%CI):1.25(1.06–1.48), P = 0.010). The sex-stratified analysis showed the association was significant among male births (aRR (95%CI): 1.40(1.12–1.75),P = 0.002),but unsignificant among female births. The sensitivity analysis reported similar findings. Conclusions The 2008 Wenchuan earthquake exposure has a long-term effect on PTB. Maternal acute exposure to disasters could be a major monitor for long-term reproductive outcomes. More attention should be paid to the underlining reasons for disaster-related adverse birth outcomes.

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Birth Outcomes after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Disaster: A Long-Term Retrospective Study

Cited by 19 publications

References 42 publications

Varzaghan Earthquake Affected Mothers’ and Their Newborns’ Health More Severely, in Socioeconomically Vulnerable Area

Varzaghan Earthquake Affected Mothers’ and Their Newborns’ Health More Severely, in Socioeconomically Vulnerable Area

Spatiotemporal association of low birth weight with Cs-137 deposition after Fukushima at the prefecture level in Japan: an ecological study

Maternal exposure to Wenchuan earthquake and prolonged risk of offspring birth outcomes: a natural experiment study

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