Psychological distress 35 years after the Chornobyl accident in the Lithuanian clean-up workers

ABSTRACT

The adverse effects on the health of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant accident clean-up workers have been reported previously. However, there is a lack of studies on the mental health of Chornobyl clean-up workers. The current study explored psychological distress in a sample of Lithuanian clean-up workers 35 years after the accident. In total, 107 Lithuanian Chornobyl clean-up workers (M_age = 62.5) and 107 controls were included in the study. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD) was used for the assessment of anxiety and depression. The depression symptoms were significantly higher in the clean-up workers compared to the control group. The prevalence of severe depression symptoms was 23.4% and 4.7% in the Chornobyl clean-up workers and control groups, respectively. The risk for severe depression was associated with Chornobyl clean-up work (adjusted OR = 5.9). No differences in the anxiety symptoms were found between clean-up workers and controls. The study revealed the deteriorated mental health of the Lithuanian Chornobyl clean-up workers 35 years after the disaster – in particular, high levels of depression. Psychosocial support programmes for clean-up workers should be provided to mitigate the adverse effects of the disaster.

KEYWORDS:

• Chornobyl
• disaster
• clean-up workers
• psychological distress
• depression
• anxiety
• Lithuanian population

Responsible Editor

Stig Wall

Responsible Editor

Stig Wall

Author contributions

EK: writing – first draft; LA: methodology – study design, funding acquisition, supervision; ID, GŽ, and LA: data collection; AE, AM, ID, GS, GŽ, LA, and VK: writing – review and editing. All authors contributed to the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics and consent

The study as part of the ADAPT project was approved by the Vilnius Regional Research Ethics Committee (approval No. 2019/4˗1119˗612). The control group data was collected as part of the LITGEN project approved by the Vilnius Regional Research Ethics Committee No. 158200–05–329–79. Informed consent was obtained from all individuals involved in the study.

Paper context

The Chornobyl nuclear power plant accident on 26 April 1986 was one of the largest industrial disasters in human history. Over half a million workers were recruited in disaster response in contaminated areas following the Chornobyl disaster. The accident had a long-term effect on the health and mental health of the disaster clean-up workers. The current paper reveals the poor mental health of clean-up workers 35 years after the disaster.

Additional information

Funding

This study is a part of the project ‘Adaptive genetic mechanisms – a comprehensive study of whole-genome variation in the group of the Lithuanian Chornobyl catastrophe liquidators’ (ADAPT) which has received funding from the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT), project No. S-MIP-20-35. A general Lithuanian population group dataset was obtained from the project ‘Genetic diversity of the population of Lithuania and changes of its genetic structure associated with evolution and common diseases’ (LITGEN) funded by the European Social Fund under the Global Grant measure, project [No. VP1-3.1-ŠMM-07-K-01-013].