Long-Term Mental Health Effects of the Chernobyl Disaster: An Epidemiologic Survey in Two Former Soviet Regions

Abstract

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Stress and well-being in the aftermath of the World Trade Center attack: The continuing effects of a communitywide disaster

“…Other studies examining the long-term physical health effects of community disasters tend to present mixed evidence. For example, assessments of the physical health of people living near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant when it exploded find little evidence for actual physical harm, but strong negative consequences for perceptions of physical health (Adams et al, 2002;Bromet et al, 2002;Havenaar et al, 1997). Research on community disasters, however, tends to focus on psychological well-being.…”

Post-traumatic stress disorder following disasters: a systematic review

“…Of these studies, we present in Table 2 the three key studies based on probability samples of the general population conducted following the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident (Havenaar et al 1997), the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill (Palinkas et al 1993), and the 2001 chemical factory explosion in France (Godeau et al 2005). …”

“…Studies that focused on several groups, with different levels of exposure enabled direct comparisons between people with different levels of disaster exposure. For example, studies that assessed areas close and distant from a disaster site have repeatedly showed that the prevalence of PTSD is higher among persons closer to the disaster than among those who are in distant areas (Havenaar et al 1997;Schlenger et al 2002;Jordan et al 2004;Neria et al 2006c). …”

Fukushima: Fallout of fear

“…Other studies of Chernobyl's aftermath found that evacuees had elevated rates of depression 3 and that a subset of clean-up workers committed suicide at a rate about 1.5 times that of the general population 4 . For Fukushima evacuees, says Bromet, "There's going to be a tremendous amount of health-related anxiety and it's not going to go away easily.…”