Regional diff erentiation in prevalence of mental retardation in Belarus after Chernobyl nuclear disaster

The study aims to investigate the spatial distribution of mental retardation prevalence rate across
the regions of Belarus during the 1979–2014 period. The study is based on archival data and analysis
of the available information from the annual statistical reports of the national Ministry of Public
Health. The diff erence in mental retardation prevalence rate was studied in two areas: the fi rst is
limited to Gomel and Mogilev regions, which suff ered the most from Chernobyl radioactive fallout;
the other one contains the rest of the country, consisting of Brest, Grodno, Vitebsk and Minsk regions.
The interregional deference was analyzed by the fi ve year intervals within 1980–2014 period. There
was the noticeable diff erence between studied territories in their average rate of mental retardation
after the year 1995 when rate in Gomel and Mogilev regions has gradually began to be higher.
Thus the diff erence in mental retardation prevalence rate between the territories varies by the level of radioactive contamination proves the suggestions about direct and indirect eff ect of Chernobyl
nuclear disaster on this mental dysfunction development.