50 percent of A-bomb survivors in South Korea feel insecurity over health
May 20, 2010
by Sakiko Masuda, Staff Writer
Surveys by Hideyuki Nakane, 47, a specialist in psychiatry and a professor at Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Science in the city of Nagasaki, and others, have revealed that the percentage of A-bomb survivors (hibakusha) in South Korea who feel insecurity with regard to their health is almost twice the percentage of non-hibakusha in South Korea who feel such insecurity. These results will be announced at the Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology, which will begin in Hiroshima on May 20.
These surveys, which were conducted in the cities of Soul and Taegu in 2008, directly addressed 373 people exposed to the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as 429 people of the same generation who have not experienced the bombing.
According to one survey, which used a "questionnaire on general health" that included questions about insomnia and feelings of insecurity, 26.8 percent of non-hibakusha respondents, or 115 people, reported having these problems, while 50.5 percent of hibakusha respondents, or 189 people, 1.9 times higher than non-hibakusha, suffer the same. The percentage of hibakusha respondents who scored at high levels on a scale indicating the susceptibility to depression for elderly people surpassed that of non-hibakusha as well.
Results of a survey of symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) show that the average score of hibakusha respondents is almost the same as that of hibakusha in Nagasaki. The research team has analyzed that the atomic bombings are highly likely to have had a significant psychological impact.
Professor Nakane commented, "We now know that hibakusha in South Korea, too, have psychiatric problems. They need adequate care from this point forward."
(Originally published on May 20, 2010)
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Four Koreans, former residents of the "black rainfall area," receive medical checkup certificate for A-bomb survivors (March 8, 2010)
Hiroshima to provide health care allowances for six A-bomb survivors in South Korea (Nov. 9, 2009)
Surveys by Hideyuki Nakane, 47, a specialist in psychiatry and a professor at Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Science in the city of Nagasaki, and others, have revealed that the percentage of A-bomb survivors (hibakusha) in South Korea who feel insecurity with regard to their health is almost twice the percentage of non-hibakusha in South Korea who feel such insecurity. These results will be announced at the Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology, which will begin in Hiroshima on May 20.
These surveys, which were conducted in the cities of Soul and Taegu in 2008, directly addressed 373 people exposed to the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as 429 people of the same generation who have not experienced the bombing.
According to one survey, which used a "questionnaire on general health" that included questions about insomnia and feelings of insecurity, 26.8 percent of non-hibakusha respondents, or 115 people, reported having these problems, while 50.5 percent of hibakusha respondents, or 189 people, 1.9 times higher than non-hibakusha, suffer the same. The percentage of hibakusha respondents who scored at high levels on a scale indicating the susceptibility to depression for elderly people surpassed that of non-hibakusha as well.
Results of a survey of symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) show that the average score of hibakusha respondents is almost the same as that of hibakusha in Nagasaki. The research team has analyzed that the atomic bombings are highly likely to have had a significant psychological impact.
Professor Nakane commented, "We now know that hibakusha in South Korea, too, have psychiatric problems. They need adequate care from this point forward."
(Originally published on May 20, 2010)
Related articles
Four Koreans, former residents of the "black rainfall area," receive medical checkup certificate for A-bomb survivors (March 8, 2010)
Hiroshima to provide health care allowances for six A-bomb survivors in South Korea (Nov. 9, 2009)
