Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28235009›Full record

Observational studyPloS one2017

Individual external doses below the lowest reference level of 1 mSv per year five years after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident among all children in Soma City, Fukushima: A retrospective observational study.

Masaharu Tsubokura, Michio Murakami, Shuhei Nomura, Tomohiro Morita, Yoshitaka Nishikawa, Claire Leppold, Shigeaki Kato, Masahiro Kami

Abstract readObservational Study
In one paragraph

Observational study in PloS one, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Masaharu TsubokuraDepartment of Radiation Protection, Soma Central Hospital, Soma, Fukushima, Japan.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8027-202X
Michio MurakamiDepartment of Health Risk Communication, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima, Fukushima, Japan.
Shuhei NomuraDepartment of Global Health Policy, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
Tomohiro MoritaDepartment of Internal Medicine, Soma Central Hospital, Soma, Fukushima, Japan.
Yoshitaka NishikawaDepartment of Health Informatics, School of Public Health, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan.
Claire LeppoldGlobal Public Health Unit, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Shigeaki KatoResearch Institute of Innovative Medicine, Tokiwa Foundation, Iwaki, Fukushima, Japan.
Masahiro KamiMedical Governance Research Institute, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

After the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident, little information has been available on individual doses from external exposure among residents living in radioactively contaminated areas near the nuclear plant; in the present study we evaluated yearly changes in the doses from external exposure after the accident and the effects of decontamination on external exposure. This study considered all children less than 16 years of age in Soma City, Fukushima who participated in annual voluntary external exposure screening programs during the five years after the accident (n = 5,363). In total, 14,405 screening results were collected. The median participant age was eight years. The geometric mean levels of annual additional doses from external exposure attributable to the Fukushima accident, decreased each year: 0.60 mSv (range: not detectable (ND)-4.29 mSv), 0.37 mSv (range: ND-3.61 mSv), 0.22 mSv (range: ND-1.44 mSv), 0.20 mSv (range: ND-1.87 mSv), and 0.17 mSv (range: ND-0.85 mSv) in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015, respectively. The proportion of residents with annual additional doses from external exposure of more than 1 mSv dropped from 15.6% in 2011 to zero in 2015. Doses from external exposure decreased more rapidly than those estimated from only physical decay, even in areas without decontamination (which were halved in 395 days from November 15, 2011), presumably due to the weathering effects. While the ratios of geometric mean doses immediately after decontamination to before were slightly lower than those during the same time in areas without decontamination, annual additional doses reduced by decontamination were small (0.04-0.24 mSv in the year of immediately after decontamination was completed). The results of this study showed that the levels of external exposure among Soma residents less than 16 years of age decreased during the five years after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident. Decontamination had only limited and temporal effects on reducing individual external doses.

Indexed as

Environmental ExposureFukushima Nuclear AccidentRadiation MonitoringAdolescentCesium RadioisotopesChildChild, PreschoolDecontaminationFemaleHumansInfantInfant, NewbornJapanMaleRadiation DosageWhole-Body CountingCesium Radioisotopes

Identifiers

PMID28235009
PMCPMC5325236

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.