AI Article Synopsis

  • Residents in the Fukushima evacuation area experienced significant lifestyle changes due to radiation exposure following the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident in 2011.
  • The Comprehensive Health Check (CHC) used retrospective and prospective analyses to track health trends among evacuees and assess the impact of the disaster on their health.
  • Findings indicate an increase in various health issues (e.g., diabetes, dyslipidemia) among evacuees, highlighting the need for ongoing health monitoring and interventions to prevent lifestyle-related diseases.

Article Abstract

Residents were forced to evacuate owing to the radiation released after the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) accident following the Great East Japan Earthquake on 11/03/2021; thus, their lifestyles drastically changed. The Comprehensive Health Check (CHC) of the Fukushima Health Management Survey (FHMS) was performed to evaluate health statuses and prevent lifestyle-related diseases in evacuation area residents. The first part of the CHC survey is a retrospective analysis of pre- and post-disaster data on health check-ups of evacuation area residents. The second part is a cross-sectional, prospective analysis of post-disaster (fiscal year (FY) 2011-2017) data on health check-ups. Subjects were men and women living in 13 municipalities in areas surrounding the NPP in Fukushima Prefecture. Post-disaster (FY 2011-2012) overweight, hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome, liver dysfunction, hyperuricemia, polycythemia and atrial fibrillation cases increased from the pre-disaster (FY 2008-2010) levels. This tendency was strongest among residents who were forced to evacuate. Proportion of overweight people remained unchanged, the prevalence of liver dysfunction decreased and the proportion of people with treated hypertension and dyslipidemia increased during FY 2011-2017. Meanwhile, the prevalence of diabetes mellitus and mean levels of HbA1c increased. Furthermore, Evacuees showed higher risks of diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, chronic kidney diseases and liver dysfunction than non-evacuees. Therefore, residents in the evacuation area, especially evacuees, are at high risk of developing lifestyle-related diseases, especially cardiovascular diseases; therefore, it is necessary to observe health statuses and implement measures to prevent lifestyle-related diseases.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9703921PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.2188/jea.JE20210386DOI Listing

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