Fear of radiation from Fukushima accident led to psychiatric disorder hospitalizations

Some 24.4 percent of people who were hospitalized in Fukushima with psychiatric disorders in the wake of the outbreak of the crisis at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant had done so possibly because of fears of radiation exposure, according to the results of research conducted by psychiatrists at Fukushima Medical University.

It has also been found that of all the outpatients at 27 hospitals in Fukushima Prefecture, 30 percent of them visited hospital apparently for reasons related to the nuclear crisis, according to the research conducted by psychiatrist Akira Wada and others at Fukushima Medical University. There is no data available in the world on the effects of nuclear accidents on psychiatric diseases that were taken immediately after a nuclear accident, and therefore Fukushima Medical University plans to conduct a follow-up study on the effects on patients of the major nuclear accident and prolonged lives as evacuees.

Wada and others at Fukushima Medical University carried out a survey at 30 hospitals in Fukushima Prefecture for two months from March 12, 2011, and 27 of them responded to the survey. Read More