title: Meeting report: suggestions for studies on future health risks following the Fukushima accident.
abstract: In October 2013, the Radiation Medical Science Center of the Fukushima Medical University and the Section of Environment and Radiation of the International Agency for Research on Cancer held a joint workshop in Fukushima, Japan to discuss opportunities and challenges for long-term studies of the health effects following the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident. This report describes four key areas of discussion -- thyroid screening, dosimetry, mental health, and non-radiation risk factors -- and summarizes recommendations resulting from the workshop. Four recommendations given at the workshop were to: 1) build-up a population-based cancer registry for long-term monitoring of the cancer burden in the prefecture; 2) enable future linkage of data from the various independent activities, particularly those related to dose reconstruction and health status ascertainment; 3) establish long-term observational studies with repeated measurements of lifestyle and behavioural factors to disentangle radiation and non-radiation factors; and 4) implement primary prevention strategies targeted for populations affected by natural disasters, including measures to better understand and address health risk concerns in the affected population. The workshop concluded that coordinated data collection between researchers from different institutes and disciplines can both reduce the burden on the population and facilitate efforts to examine the inter-relationships between the many factors at play.
authors.affiliation: Section of Environment and Radiation, International Agency for Research on Cancer, 150 cours Albert Thomas, 69372, Lyon, Cedex 08, France. inamasut@fellows.iarc.fr.|Radiation Medical Science Center, Fukushima Medical University, 1 Hikarigaoka, Fukushima, 960-1295, Japan. inamasut@fellows.iarc.fr.
authors.forename: Tomoko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Inamasu
authors.affiliation: Section of Environment and Radiation, International Agency for Research on Cancer, 150 cours Albert Thomas, 69372, Lyon, Cedex 08, France. schonfelds@iarc.fr.
authors.forename: Sara J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Schonfeld
authors.affiliation: Radiation Medical Science Center, Fukushima Medical University, 1 Hikarigaoka, Fukushima, 960-1295, Japan. masafumi@fmu.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Masafumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.affiliation: Psychological and Behavioral aspects of Life after Cancer, Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Strandboulevarden 49, 2100, København Ø, Denmark. pernille@cancer.dk.
authors.forename: Pernille E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Bidstrup
authors.affiliation: Section of Environment and Radiation, International Agency for Research on Cancer, 150 cours Albert Thomas, 69372, Lyon, Cedex 08, France. deltouri@iarc.fr.
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Deltour
authors.affiliation: Radiation Medical Science Center, Fukushima Medical University, 1 Hikarigaoka, Fukushima, 960-1295, Japan. poroishida@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishida
authors.affiliation: Radiation Medical Science Center, Fukushima Medical University, 1 Hikarigaoka, Fukushima, 960-1295, Japan. isikawat@fmu.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Tetsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.affiliation: Section of Environment and Radiation, International Agency for Research on Cancer, 150 cours Albert Thomas, 69372, Lyon, Cedex 08, France. kesminienea@iarc.fr.
authors.forename: Ausrele
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kesminiene
authors.affiliation: Radiation Medical Science Center, Fukushima Medical University, 1 Hikarigaoka, Fukushima, 960-1295, Japan. teoohira@fmu.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohira
authors.affiliation: Radiation Medical Science Center, Fukushima Medical University, 1 Hikarigaoka, Fukushima, 960-1295, Japan. hit-ohto@fmu.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohto
authors.affiliation: Radiation Medical Science Center, Fukushima Medical University, 1 Hikarigaoka, Fukushima, 960-1295, Japan. shsuzuki@fmu.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Shinichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.affiliation: Section of Environment and Radiation, International Agency for Research on Cancer, 150 cours Albert Thomas, 69372, Lyon, Cedex 08, France. thierrychefi@iarc.fr.
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Thierry-Chef
authors.affiliation: Radiation Medical Science Center, Fukushima Medical University, 1 Hikarigaoka, Fukushima, 960-1295, Japan. hyabe@fmu.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Hirooki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yabe
authors.affiliation: Radiation Medical Science Center, Fukushima Medical University, 1 Hikarigaoka, Fukushima, 960-1295, Japan. yasumura@fmu.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Seiji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yasumura
authors.affiliation: Section of Environment and Radiation, International Agency for Research on Cancer, 150 cours Albert Thomas, 69372, Lyon, Cedex 08, France. schuzj@iarc.fr.
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schüz
authors.affiliation: Radiation Medical Science Center, Fukushima Medical University, 1 Hikarigaoka, Fukushima, 960-1295, Japan. shun@nagasaki-u.ac.jp.|Department of Radiation Medical Sciences, Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, Nagasaki University, 1-12-4 Sakamoto, Nagasaki, 852-8523, Japan. shun@nagasaki-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Shunichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yamashita
mesh_terms: D062406:Fukushima Nuclear Accident; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008603:Mental Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D011874:Radiometry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000528:radiation effects*