Abstract
Physical and psychosomatic examinations were performed on 356 A-bombed survivors during a period of 4 years from 1955 to 1959.
In somatic aspects, 172 of 356 survivors complained fatigue and vertigo, etc., 118 of whom having had no corresponding causes. There was no significant change in the blood and bone marrow but a trend of higher incidence of either anemia, leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, or their combination particularly in those who were exposed at a small distance from the hypocenter.
In psychosomatic aspects, almost all the survivors have had some complaints such as anxiety, hopelessness of their lives, fear of A-bomb effects on their descendants, etc. Bodily complaints seemed to come from neurotic basis, because the Cornell Medical Index Health Questionaires indicated that the survivors showed higher incidence of neurotics than did both the controls (clerk groups) and out-patients with organic disorders. Since the information of sequelae of A-bomb disease, which have been main cause of their anxiety, has come mainly from mass communication (67%) and partially from physicians (21%), it should be emphasized that both mass communication sources and physicians must be very cautious in describing the sequelae of disease.
