''Wind turbine sickness'' is far more prevalent in communities where anti-wind farm lobbyists have been active and appears to be a psychological phenomenon caused by the suggestion that turbines make people sick, a study has found.

The study found that 63 per cent of Australia's 49 wind farms had never been the subject of any health complaint from nearby residents.

A new study has found that 63 per cent of Australia’s 49 wind farms have never been the subject of any health complaint from nearby residents. Credit:Nicolas Walker

It found 68 per cent of the 120 complaints that have been made came from residents living near wind farms heavily targeted by the anti-wind farm lobby, and that ''the advent of anti-wind farm groups beginning to foment concerns about health (from around 2009) was also strongly correlated with actual complaints being made''.

Study author, Simon Chapman, professor of public health at Sydney University, said the results suggested that ''wind turbine sickness'' was a ''communicated disease'' – a sickness spread by the claim that something was likely to make a person sick. This was caused by the ''nocebo effect'' – the opposite of the placebo effect – where the belief something would cause an illness created the perception of illness.