Mental Health in Residents 1.5 Years After the Hebei Spirit Oil Spill

Abstract

Background: The assessment of the acute-phase mental health of the residents in the oil spill area showed a high degree of risk. Aims: The study intends to analyze the correlation between the damage of oil spill and mental health of the residents in the oil spill area, and identify the status of residents’ mental health according to the distance from the point of accident and the number of day for clean-up operation. Methods: The community survey of 9,246 residents was conducted 1.5 years after the oil spill accident. PTSD, depression, stress and anxiety were performed using the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, Psychological Wellbeing Index, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, respectively. Results: After adjusting for the covariates, the risks of having the symptoms of PTSD (OR 2.80, OR 3.24), depression (OR 1.13, OR 1.95), stress (OR 1.22, OR 1.36), and/or trait-anxiety (OR 1.52, OR 1.64) increased significantly according to the distance from the oil spill point to the residence and the total number of days of clean-up of participation.. conclusions: A higher rate of symptoms of mental health was found as the residents live closer to the accident point, and participate in longer clean-up work duration. it necessary to monitor the long-term mental health in residents