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Worry about Radiation and Its Risk Factors Five to Ten Years after the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Disaster

Worry about radiation persists long after nuclear power plant accidents. Young age, low socioeconomic status, being married, and disaster-related experiences are known to be associated with greater worry about radiation. This study explored the duration of the effects of these risk factors on worry...

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Autores principales: Fukasawa, Maiko, Umeda, Maki, Akiyama, Tsuyoshi, Horikoshi, Naoko, Yasumura, Seiji, Yabe, Hirooki, Suzuki, Yuriko, Bromet, Evelyn J., Kawakami, Norito
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9778659/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36554824
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192416943
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author Fukasawa, Maiko
Umeda, Maki
Akiyama, Tsuyoshi
Horikoshi, Naoko
Yasumura, Seiji
Yabe, Hirooki
Suzuki, Yuriko
Bromet, Evelyn J.
Kawakami, Norito
author_facet Fukasawa, Maiko
Umeda, Maki
Akiyama, Tsuyoshi
Horikoshi, Naoko
Yasumura, Seiji
Yabe, Hirooki
Suzuki, Yuriko
Bromet, Evelyn J.
Kawakami, Norito
author_sort Fukasawa, Maiko
collection PubMed
description Worry about radiation persists long after nuclear power plant accidents. Young age, low socioeconomic status, being married, and disaster-related experiences are known to be associated with greater worry about radiation. This study explored the duration of the effects of these risk factors on worry about radiation after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, using the longitudinal data of randomly sampled non-evacuee community residents who were followed five to ten years after the accident. Questionnaire surveys were conducted five times with 1825 respondents (37.2% of the 4900 initial targets). We examined the interaction of time and risk factors of worry about radiation using a mixed model. Fear or anxiety immediately after the accident had effects on worry about radiation that continued even after 10 years, though it slightly attenuated with time. Family problems stemming from the disaster retained their effects. While direct damage and evacuation experience were significantly associated with worry about radiation in the early phase, their effects diminished and became non-significant during the study period. Being under the age of 65, having low educational attainment, and being married were significantly associated with worry about radiation, although the association with age weakened over time. Individuals who experience intense fear or anxiety post-nuclear power plant accidents or disaster-related family problems may need continuous monitoring for their worry about radiation even 10 years after such accidents.
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spelling pubmed-97786592022-12-23 Worry about Radiation and Its Risk Factors Five to Ten Years after the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Disaster Fukasawa, Maiko Umeda, Maki Akiyama, Tsuyoshi Horikoshi, Naoko Yasumura, Seiji Yabe, Hirooki Suzuki, Yuriko Bromet, Evelyn J. Kawakami, Norito Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Worry about radiation persists long after nuclear power plant accidents. Young age, low socioeconomic status, being married, and disaster-related experiences are known to be associated with greater worry about radiation. This study explored the duration of the effects of these risk factors on worry about radiation after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, using the longitudinal data of randomly sampled non-evacuee community residents who were followed five to ten years after the accident. Questionnaire surveys were conducted five times with 1825 respondents (37.2% of the 4900 initial targets). We examined the interaction of time and risk factors of worry about radiation using a mixed model. Fear or anxiety immediately after the accident had effects on worry about radiation that continued even after 10 years, though it slightly attenuated with time. Family problems stemming from the disaster retained their effects. While direct damage and evacuation experience were significantly associated with worry about radiation in the early phase, their effects diminished and became non-significant during the study period. Being under the age of 65, having low educational attainment, and being married were significantly associated with worry about radiation, although the association with age weakened over time. Individuals who experience intense fear or anxiety post-nuclear power plant accidents or disaster-related family problems may need continuous monitoring for their worry about radiation even 10 years after such accidents. MDPI 2022-12-16 /pmc/articles/PMC9778659/ /pubmed/36554824 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192416943 Text en © 2022 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
Fukasawa, Maiko
Umeda, Maki
Akiyama, Tsuyoshi
Horikoshi, Naoko
Yasumura, Seiji
Yabe, Hirooki
Suzuki, Yuriko
Bromet, Evelyn J.
Kawakami, Norito
Worry about Radiation and Its Risk Factors Five to Ten Years after the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Disaster
title Worry about Radiation and Its Risk Factors Five to Ten Years after the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Disaster
title_full Worry about Radiation and Its Risk Factors Five to Ten Years after the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Disaster
title_fullStr Worry about Radiation and Its Risk Factors Five to Ten Years after the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Disaster
title_full_unstemmed Worry about Radiation and Its Risk Factors Five to Ten Years after the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Disaster
title_short Worry about Radiation and Its Risk Factors Five to Ten Years after the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Disaster
title_sort worry about radiation and its risk factors five to ten years after the fukushima nuclear power plant disaster
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9778659/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36554824
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192416943
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