Re[3]: Chernobyl Health Study Findings (fwd)

[Field@amrf-po.pmeh.uiowa.edu]

        Another conclusion of these conferences has been the importance of
psychosocial factors, which can be detected 10 years after the accident,
and the role of psychosomatic effects. These effects may turn out to be the
the major health concern of the accident. My colleagues Dr. Julie Cwikel
and Anna Abdelgani here at the Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva, Israel
have found evidence for post-traumatic stress disorder in immigrants to
Israel who came from the former Soviet Union from areas near Chernobyl (in
comparison to controls matched for age, sex and date of immigration)
..
        One of the problems has been the extreme difficulty of carrying out
controlled epidemiological studies in the affected regions. It seems to me
that unless multinational, cooperative, controlled and long term
prospective studies are realistically designed, funded and carried out,
most of the potential information on the health effects of low dose
radiation resulting from the Chernobyl accident will probably be lost
          

          Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has been fairly well
          documented in people following exposure, or perceived 
          exposure, to chemical toxicants.  This is the first time I
          have seen the syndome specifically identified following
          exposure to radiation.  In the TMI population, I have heard
          reports and read peered reviewed articles that suggest the
          stress to the population following the accident may be
          responsible for some of the adverse health outcomes,
          cancers, noted in the population. However, I have never
          heard of PTSD specifically being identified in the TMI
          population.  I think this is an important finding coming out
          of the above research at Ben Gurion University.

          I would be interested to know if any radsafers ever heard of
          PTSD specifically being identified,  or better yet
          documented in a scientific journal, in anyone following
          exposure to radiation.

          R. William Field, Ph.D.
          Department of Preventive Medicine
          University of Iowa