Mental health status among younger generation around Chernobyl

INTRODUCTION: In order to improve our understanding of how to approach the younger generation around Chernobyl, we screened mental health status among young adults born after the accident living in the Gomel region, Belarus. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We enrolled 697 medical students who were born after the accident. Participants were asked to answer self-administered questionnaires including the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). RESULTS: GHQ-12 scores were 1.80 ±2.28 (mean ± SD) among all 697 subjects. When logistic regression analysis was performed with confounding factors, “economic situation” and “association of diseases and/or poor health condition with radiation exposure” were significantly associated with poor mental status. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that anxiety about radiation exposure among highly educated medical students in the Gomel region, although they were born after the accident, affects their poor mental health status.