Preventive measures and lifestyle habits against exertional heat illness in radiation decontamination workers

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to reveal the current state of preventive measures and lifestyle habits against heat illness in radiation decontamination workers and to examine whether young radiation decontamination workers take less preventive measures and have worse lifestyle habits than the elder workers. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study. Self-administered questionnaires were sent to 1,505 radiation decontamination workers in Fukushima, Japan. Five hundred fifty-eight men who replied and answered all questions were included in the statistical analysis. The questionnaire included age, duration of decontamination work, previous occupation, lifestyle habit, and preventive measures for heat illness. We classified age of the respondents into five groups: <30, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, and ≥60 years and defined the workers under 30 years of age as young workers. Logistic regression analysis was used to reveal the factors associated with each lifestyle habit and preventive measures. RESULTS In comparison with young workers, 50-59-year-old workers were significantly associated with refraining from drinking alcohol. Workers 40 years of age or older were significantly associated with cooling their bodies with refrigerant. Furthermore, 30-39-year-old workers and 40-49-year-old workers were significantly associated with adequate consumption of water compared to young workers. CONCLUSION The results of our study suggests that young decontamination workers are more likely to have worse lifestyle habits and take insufficient preventive measures for heat illness. This may be the cause of higher incidence of heat illness among young workers.