Consequences of Toxic Disasters for Rescue, Recovery, and Clean-Up Workers Require Integrated Mental and Physical Health Monitoring

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bromet EJ ; Luft BJ
• Description:
  Societies have an obligation to monitor and treat the health of workers participating in the clean-up of toxic disaster sites. Most of the research to date has focused on mortality and on mental or physical health, independent of one another. In this issue, Laidra et al. present findings on the long-term well-being of Estonian men who assisted in the clean-up of the area around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Strikingly, 24 years later, these men, at an average age of 55, continued to have significantly more depressive and anxiety symptoms than controls, and were less likely to be employed and married and to describe their overall health as good. These findings complement and extend prior studies of Chernobyl clean-up workers that showed an increase in non-radiation related physical morbidity, PTSD, depression, and work absenteeism, and suicide. Local Ukrainian studies have also raised the possibility of neurocognitive and brain-related impairments in highly exposed workers. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Emergency Responders Environmental Exposure Men Mental Health Morbidity Mortality Nervous System Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety September 11 Terrorist Attacks

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• Keywords:
  Disaster Clean-up Disaster Sites Emergency Responders Exposure Levels Health Protection Humans Mental Health Monitoring Systems Morbidity Rates Mortality Rates Neurological Reactions Nuclear Power Plants Physiological Function Rescue Workers Risk Factors Sociological Factors Workers World Trade Center WTC

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• ISSN:
  0933-7954
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Contract
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; OSHA Region 2
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  50
• Issue:
  11
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20051020
• Citation:
  Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 2015 Nov; 50(11):1761-1763
• Contact Point Address:
  E. J. Bromet, Department of Psychiatry, HSC T10 060-Z1, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-8101
• Email:
  Evelyn.bromet@stonybrookmedicine.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2016
• Performing Organization:
  State University of New York at Stony Brook
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:4350d4e961b03efeda1fb3d2533fb88e46d9c1d81a0c03429e8f22d90ae078240c56e2601f5f33960c8e50dfae97a869ad624e8b9b2220b20ed5be6092ee8e70
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/211161/cdc_211161_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 315.20 KB ]