@article{ref1,
title="The Tokyo subway sarin attack has long-term effects on survivors: a 10-year study started 5 years after the terrorist incident",
journal="PLoS one",
year="2020",
author="Sugiyama, Aya and Matsuoka, Toshihiko and Sakamune, Kazuaki and Akita, Tomoyuki and Makita, Ryosuke and Kimura, Shinsuke and Kuroiwa, Yukio and Nagao, Masataka and Tanaka, Junko",
volume="15",
number="6",
pages="e0234967-e0234967",
abstract="OBJECTIVES: The Tokyo subway sarin attack in 1995 was an unprecedented act of terrorism that killed 13 people and sickened more than 6,000. The long-term somatic and psychological effects on its victims remain unknown.   METHODS: We conducted analyses on the self-rating questionnaire collected annually by the Recovery Support Center (RSC) during the period from 2000 to 2009. The RSC is the only organization that has large-scale follow-up data about sarin attack victims. The prevalence of self-reported symptoms was calculated over 10 years. We also evaluated the prevalence of posttraumatic stress response (PTSR), defined as a score ≥ 25 on the Japanese-language version of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised. The multivariate Poisson regression model was applied to estimate the risk ratios of age, gender, and year factor on the prevalence of PTSR.   RESULTS: Subjects were 747 survivors (12% of the total) who responded to the annual questionnaire once or more during the study period. The prevalence of somatic symptoms, especially eye symptoms, was 60-80% and has not decreased. PTSR prevalence was 35.1%, and again there was no change with time. The multivariate Poisson regression model results revealed &quot;old age&quot; and &quot;female&quot; as independent risk factors, but the passage of time did not decrease the risk of PTSR.   CONCLUSIONS: Although symptoms in most victims of the Tokyo subway sarin were transient, this large-scale follow-up data analysis revealed that survivors have been suffering from somatic and psychological long-term effects.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1932-6203",
doi="10.1371/journal.pone.0234967",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0234967"
}