BACKGROUND: Since the accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP), concerns have arisen in Japan regarding the presence of radionuclides in food. Moreover, exposure levels to ⁹⁰Sr and Pu isotopes in adults and those to ¹³⁴Cs+¹³⁷Cs, ⁹⁰Sr, and Pu (where Cs, Sr, and Pu are cesium, strontium, and plutonium, respectively) in children have not been examined. Therefore, this study employed a duplicate portion approach to examine dietary exposure levels of radionuclides in adults and children following the FDNPP accident. METHODS: The study spanned fiscal years 2012-2014 and was conducted in 10 prefectures: Hokkaido, Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Osaka, and Kochi. The participants provided portions of their meals for two non-consecutive days and completed questionnaires on the meal items. The activity concentrations of ¹³⁴Cs, ¹³⁷Cs, ⁹⁰Sr, and ^239+240Pu, which are targets of standard limits for radionuclides in foods in Japan, were determined according to the Radioactivity Measurement Series. The daily intake was calculated based on the radionuclide activity concentrations in the duplicate portion samples, and the committed effective doses were estimated using dose coefficients for the ingestion of each radionuclide provided by the International Commission on Radiological Protection. RESULTS: Approximately 80 duplicate samples were obtained in each fiscal year, and 242 samples were collected. The highest summed activity concentration of ¹³⁴Cs and ¹³⁷Cs was 11 Bq/kg, which was recorded in Date City (child) in 2013; this level was approximately one-ninth of the standard limit for general foods (100 Bq/kg). The committed effective dose from annual ingestion of the sample described above was 74 µSv, approximately 14 times lower than the maximum permissible level of 1 mSv/y. Pu was not detected and the ⁹⁰Sr activity concentrations were similar to those before the FDNPP accident. CONCLUSIONS For the samples examined in the present study, the ¹³⁴Cs, ¹³⁷Cs, ⁹⁰Sr, and ^239+240Pu dietary exposure levels were considerably lower than the regulatory levels and may not pose a health risk.
Fukushima Nuclear Accident ; Cesium Radioisotopes/analysis* ; Humans ; Japan ; Dietary Exposure/statistics & numerical data* ; Adult ; Plutonium/analysis* ; Child ; Food Contamination, Radioactive/analysis* ; Strontium Radioisotopes/analysis* ; Male ; Female ; Middle Aged ; Child, Preschool ; Radiation Monitoring ; Young Adult ; Adolescent ; Aged ; Radiation Exposure/analysis*

Aim: To evaluate the costs associated with healthcare and long-term care during the last 24 months before death according to major disease groups.Methods: Individual data regarding healthcare and long-term care costs according to public insurance schemes during the last 24 months before death among all decedents older than 75 years reported in a city in Japan between April 1, 2010 and March 31, 2014 were identified; the data for nine major diseases were then analyzed.Results: For the 2149 decedents studied, the average healthcare costs per capita in the last 24 months of life for moderately-old (75 to 84 years) and extremely-old (85 years and older) decedents was 4,135,467 JPY and 2,493,001 JPY, respectively, while the average long-term care costs per capita for 24 months was 1,300,710 JPY and 2,723,239 JPY, respectively. The total costs (healthcare and long-term care combined) ranged from 9,169,547 JPY for chronic kidney disease to 5,023,762 JPY for ischemic heart disease. In all the diseases studied, the moderately-old decedents incurred higher healthcare costs while the extremely-old decedents incurred higher long-term care costs. However, for the care costs of chronic lower respiratory diseases, this pattern was not observed.Conclusion: A shift in expenditure from healthcare to long-term care as the decedents’ age increased was observed in major diseases, with some exceptions.