Risk Factors for Long-term Mental and Psychosomatic Distress in Latvian Chernobyl Liquidators

Environmental Health Perspectives 105, Supplement 6, December 1997

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Risk Factors for Long-term Mental and Psychosomatic Distress in Latvian Chernobyl Liquidators

Jean-François Viel,¹ Elvira Curbakova,² Baiba Dzerve,² Maija Eglite,³ Tija Zvagule,² and Claude Vincent¹

¹Faculty of Medicine, Department of Public Health, Besançon, France
²Paul Stradins State Hospital, Riga, Latvia
³Medical Academy of Latvia, Institute of Labour Medicine, Riga, Latvia

Abstract
Epidemiologic studies on the health effects of the Chernobyl disaster have focused largely on physical health, whereas the psychological consequences have received little attention. The authors have assessed the associations of various exposure variables with mental and psychosomatic distress in a sample of 1412 Latvian liquidators drawn from the State Latvian Chernobyl Clean-up Workers Registry. The outcome was a mixed mental-psychosomatic disorder occurring during 1986 to 1995. Comparisons among subgroups of the cohort classified according to exposure type or level were based on the proportional hazards model. Length of work (>=28 days) in a 10-km radius from the reactor (relative risk [RR]=1.39, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.14-1.70), work (>1 time) on the damaged reactor roof (RR=1.46, 95% CI 1.02-2.09), forest work (RR=1.41, 95% CI 1.19-1.68), and fresh fruit consumption (>=1 time/day) (RR=1.72, 95% CI 1.12-2.65) are risk factors for mixed mental-psychosomatic disorder. Construction of the sarcophagus (RR=1.82, 95% CI 0.89-3.72) is also associated with this outcome, although nonsignificantly. Distinguishing stress-related from radiation-induced effects in this data set was difficult and these findings should provide a basis for later hypothesis testing in other cohorts. -- Environ Health Perspect 105(Suppl 6):1539-1544 (1997)

Key words: Chernobyl, liquidators, mental disorders, risk factors

This paper is based on a presentation at the International Conference on Radiation and Health held 3-7 November 1996 in Beer Sheva, Israel. Abstracts of these papers were previously published in Public Health Reviews 24(3-4):205-431 (1996). Manuscript received at EHP 7 April 1997; accepted 27 June 1997.
This work was supported by grant 94209 from the French Ministry of Environment. The authors are indebted to Professor Daniel Sechter and Dr. Bruno Challier for their critical reviews.
Address correspondence to Pr. J.F. Viel, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Public Health, Biostatistics and Epidemiology Unit, 2, place Saint Jacques, 25030 Besançon, France. Telephone: 33 3 81 21 87 34. Fax: 33 3 81 21 87 35. E-mail: jean-francois.viel@ufc-chu.univ-fcompte.fr
Abbreviations used: CI, confidence interval; ICD-9, International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision; RR, relative risk.

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