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The mental health of clean-up workers 18 years after the Chernobyl accident

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 November 2007

K. Loganovsky ,
J. M. Havenaar ,
N. L. Tintle ,
L. T. Guey ,
R. Kotov  and
E. J. Bromet
K. Loganovsky
Affiliation:
Research Center for Radiation Medicine, Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
J. M. Havenaar
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Free University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
N. L. Tintle
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, Hope College, Holland, MI, USA
L. T. Guey
Affiliation:
Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO), Madrid, Spain
R. Kotov
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA
E. J. Bromet*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA
*
*Address for correspondence: Professor E. J. Bromet, Ph.D., Departments of Psychiatry and Preventive Medicine, Putnam Hall-South Campus, Stony Brook, NY 11794-8790, USA. (Email: Evelyn.bromet@stonybrook.edu)
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Abstract

Background

The psychological aftermath of the Chernobyl accident is regarded as the largest public health problem unleashed by the accident to date. Yet the mental health of the clean-up workers, who faced the greatest radiation exposure and threat to life, has not been systematically evaluated. This study describes the long-term psychological effects of Chernobyl in a sample of clean-up workers in Ukraine.

Method

The cohorts were 295 male clean-up workers sent to Chernobyl between 1986 and 1990 interviewed 18 years after the accident (71% participation rate) and 397 geographically matched controls interviewed as part of the Ukraine World Mental Health (WMS) Survey 16 years after the accident. The World Health Organization (WHO) Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) was administered. We examined group differences in common psychiatric disorders, suicide ideation and severe headaches, differential effects of disorder on days lost from work, and in the clean-up workers, the relationship of exposure severity to disorder and current trauma and somatic symptoms. Analyses were adjusted for age in 1986 and mental health prior to the accident.

Results

Relatively more clean-up workers than controls experienced depression (18.0% v. 13.1%) and suicide ideation (9.2% v. 4.1%) after the accident. In the year preceding interview, the rates of depression (14.9% v. 7.1%), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (4.1% v. 1.0%) and headaches (69.2% v. 12.4%) were elevated. Affected workers lost more work days than affected controls. Exposure level was associated with current somatic and PTSD symptom severity.

Conclusions

Long-term mental health consequences of Chernobyl were observed in clean-up workers.

Keywords

Chernobyldepressionepidemiologypost-traumatic stress disorderradiation
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 38 , Issue 4 , April 2008 , pp. 481 - 488
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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