Comparison of mortality patterns after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant radiation disaster and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The initial health impact caused by radiation disasters can be broadly classified into direct and indirect effects. Though no direct health hazards caused by radiation, such as acute radiation injury, were observed following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident, indirect deaths have been reported, including those caused by initial emergency evacuation and relocation, medical disruption, and psychological and social health effects. However, these indirect health effects have not been prioritised for addressal. We evaluated the radiation disaster experience with that of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic that emerged while facing the challenges from the radiation disaster. Most of the health effects of COVID-19 are directly associated with infection, but indirect health effects of various scales and entities have been reported. The two disasters have similarities in terms of the strain on community healthcare and the large number of deaths. Adapting the measures implemented in the acute to subacute phases of the COVID-19 disaster to radiation disasters may help improve management following future radiation disasters. Based on the experience and findings during the COVID-19 pandemic, the pattern of deaths in radiation disasters can be divided into five major groups: direct deaths, and four indirect patterns of deaths due to a deteriorating supply-demand balance (a hospital-level problem), collapse of the healthcare system (a community-level problem), death due to neglect alongside underlying disease, and diseases other than direct invasion. From the similarities between the two disasters, three main issues should be prioritised as initial emergency evacuation measures in a radiation disaster: emergency exposure medicine, the establishment of a medical system, and protection of death with dignity. The validity of these priority issues needs to be verified in future research.