Who has sustained psychological symptoms nine years after the Hebei Spirit oil spill?: The Health Effect Research on Hebei Spirit oil spill (HEROS) study

This study evaluated risk factors for sustained psychological symptoms in affected residents, nine years after the Hebei Spirit oil spill in Korea in 2007. The participants included residents of high-exposure areas, living within 2 km from the contaminated coast (n = 2013), among the cohort of the Health Effect Research on Hebei Spirit oil spill study from 2009 to 2016. Symptoms for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, psychosocial distress, and anxiety, as well as sociodemographic information were assessed through questionnaire interviews. Trajectory analysis was conducted to identify the group with sustained symptoms over time and logistic regression analysis was performed to identify risk factors for sustained symptoms adjusted for covariates. A longer duration of clean-up work, lower household income, and presence of a chronic disease in all type of symptoms, and being female, younger age, and higher educational level in all symptoms but PTSD, showed a significant association with increased risk of sustained symptoms. The highest risk was found in the subgroup with a longer clean-up together with offshore and maritime occupations or lower income in PTSD, depression, and anxiety, compared with those with a shorter clean-up and other occupation or higher income. Increased risk of sustained PTSD in relation to a longer clean-up was limited to those with a lower educational level (pinteraction = 0.009). The results suggested that participating longer in clean-up work increased sustained psychological symptoms, synergistically with socioeconomic factors such as offshore and maritime occupations, lower household income, or economic losses related to educational level.

Automated summary

This study found that residents who participated in clean-up work for a longer period, had lower household income, and had chronic diseases were at higher risk for sustained psychological symptoms nine years after the Hebei Spirit oil spill in Korea in 2007. Women, younger individuals, and those with higher educational levels also showed increased risk for sustained symptoms in anxiety, depression, and psychosocial distress, but not PTSD. The results suggest that socioeconomic factors such as offshore and maritime occupations, lower income, and educational level interact with participating in clean-up work to increase the risk of sustained psychological symptoms.