[Workers' stress after Hanshin-Awaji earthquake in 1995--symptoms related to stress after 18 months]

Stress-related symptoms were investigated in workers living in the area hit by the Hanshin-Awaji earthquake. Questionnaires were distributed among taxi and truck drivers, longshoremen, workers in factories, hospitals and local government offices 18 months after the event. Nearly 40% of them, 3,015 answered. The multiple regressive analysis showed that the degree of housing damage was the factor most relevant to the symptoms. Although the symptoms decreased as time passed, the group with seriously damaged housing still complained of severe stress-related symptoms even 18 months after the event. Symptoms related to post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were observed in 48.0% in the male group with seriously damaged housing immediately after the quake. The figure was 34.2% of after 3 months and 12.6% after 18 months. 21.8%, 12.9% and 3.7%, respectively, were the figures in the male group with nil or slightly damaged housing. The number of workers who complained of the recurrence and worsening of chronic diseases peaked 3 months after the event and had not changed much even after 18 months. Workers also complained of anxiety over the loss of work, job pressure, overwork, difficulty of commuting to and from the area, danger at work, decline in income and changes of job location.