Epidemiological study of health effects in Fukushima Emergency Workers: Progress report on the Health Examination Study, 2016-2019

Abstract

To clarify the long-term health effects from radiation exposure in emergency workers who responded to the radiation accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant of Tokyo Electric Power Company, which was hit by a tsunami caused by the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku earthquake, the Epidemiological Study of Health Effects in Fukushima Emergency Worker (currently, the Epidemiological Study on the Health Effects of Radiation Workers) was initiated in 2014. We aimed to compile the results of the Health Examination Study conducted from January 2016 to March 2019 to demonstrate the characteristics of the study participants during this period. We included individuals who completed the first health examination and provided consent to use their survey results in our study. A total of 5,718 people were included, among which 5,707 (99.8%) were men. The mean age of the study participants was 51.6 years at the time of the health examination. Compared to Japanese men, the study participants were more likely to have obesity, to be current smokers, and to consume alcohol at least once a month. There were no significant differences in the blood test results between the study participants and healthy Japanese men. To clarify the long-term health effects of radiation exposure on the emergency workers, it is important to make efforts to prevent the study participants from dropping out of the cohort over time and to keep them participating in the Health Examination Study.

Keywords

• Radiation
• Fukushima
• TEPCO
• Emergency workers
• Cohort study
• Epidemiological study