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Objectives The Russian–Ukrainian War of 2022 (RUW-2022) was accompanied by the subsequent risk of accidents at a nuclear power plant in Ukraine. This study investigated posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms related to media reports of an attack on a Ukrainian nuclear power plant during the RUW-2022 among victims of the Fukushima nuclear disaster and revealed their association with radiation risk perception (RRP) of the accident. Methods This cross-sectional study targeted 1193 residents of Naraha Town in Fukushima Prefecture. PTS symptoms were measured using the Japanese version of the Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R). Univariate and multivariate analyses explored the association between IES-R scores and background factors, particularly RRP. Results Participants with higher RRP showed significantly higher IES-R scores; furthermore, the proportion of disruption because of radiation anxiety was significantly larger among higher RRP residents. Radiation anxiety mediated the association between RRP and PTS symptoms (total IES-R score and sub-item of intrusion). Conclusions People with higher RRP in Fukushima may continue to be at risk of persistent, unwanted PTS symptoms due to future nuclear crises. Therefore, mental health practitioners need to continue providing support in affected areas for a longer period than anticipated. Moreover, a population-based approach to cope with these stressors from media reports is essential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Post-evacuation return after mandatory hospital evacuation due to complicated disasters is often overlooked and not well-discussed. Aims: In this study, we explored the factors which are related to the ease or difficulty of the post-evacuation return to Fukushima prefecture of psychiatric inpatients who had been evacuated to hospitals outside the prefecture because of the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) and subsequent Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident. Method: This retrospective cohort study included evacuated psychiatric hospital inpatients who were registered in the Matching Project for Community Transition (MPCT) and had been traced until July 31, 2019. A total of 531 patients were included for the analyses. Univariable and multivariable analysis were conducted to detect the patients' traits including their psychiatric/physical backgrounds which were associated with their outcome – the time from GEJE to the date of return to Fukushima. Results: Over half of the patients returned to Fukushima. In the multivariable analysis, the patients' gender (male), age (older), and psychiatric diagnoses of schizophrenia, schizotypal and delusional disorders (ICD-10, F20–29) showed lower hazard ratio (HR) and statistically significant association with the difficulties of post-evacuation return. Meanwhile, disorders of psychological development (F80–89), diseases of the nervous (G00–99, except G40–41) and genitourinary (N00–99) systems showed higher HR and statistically significant association with the ease of return. Conclusions: The specific characteristics of the psychiatric inpatients including their psychiatric and physical status are associated with their post-evacuation return to their hometown. These results indicated that the evacuated hospitals' practitioners and staffs from the MPCT understood the necessity of the earlier return of inpatients to their hometown. Moreover, clinicians should pay more attention to some symptoms unique to psychiatric patients which contributed to their difficulties in returning safely or expressing their hope to return. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several articles have reported long-term outcomes and factors related to mortality among evacuated hospitalized patients or nursing home residents after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident associated with the Great East Japan Earthquake,1-4 but little is known about these outcomes among psychiatric inpatients. The SMR of all psychiatric inpatients in 2011 was seriously high (3.33; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.53-4.29), particularly for inpatients evacuated within Fukushima Prefecture (5.43; 95%CI, 3.82-7.49) compared with that for inpatients evacuated outside the prefecture (2.02; 95%CI, 1.26-3.05). [Extracted from the article]

Objective: This study aimed to elucidate the effects of pre-evacuation family hospital visits on post-evacuation returns to Fukushima Prefecture (hometown) among psychiatric inpatients who mandatorily evacuated to hospitals outside the prefecture because of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident., Method: Of the inpatients in Fukushima, 44 were admitted to a hospital in the nearby Soso district on March 11, 2011, and were therefore included in the current analysis. We collected information on their discharge after the evacuation and family visits before the evacuation by reviewing the medical records of both the evacuation destination and former hospitals., Results: The average durations from the accident to post-evacuation return among patients with and those without former family visits were 681.8 days (standard error [SE] = 163.3) and 1,027.8 days (SE = 152.0), respectively. The log-rank test showed a tendency of earlier return to Fukushima among inpatients who had received family visits to the hospital before evacuation ( p  = .073)., Conclusions: The results highlight the critical need for close collaboration between psychiatric medical practitioners and families, to not only support patients' community reintegration into daily life but also facilitate a timely return to their hometowns following long-distance evacuation caused by an unforeseen large-scale disaster.