RESUMO
Objective To explore whether low-dose occupational ionizing radiation exposure can affect the prevalence of lens opacity.Methods Annual occupational health checkup data of 1 007 radiation workers was taken from a provincial medical institution for the purpose of statistical analysis.Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate occupational exposure odds ratios (OR) of lens opacity,adjusted for age,gender and length of service.Eye lens opacity was grouped into cortical,nuclear and posterior subcapsular opacity according to the position of the opacity occurrence site.Opacity occurred in any one of the both eye lens was recorded as turbidity.Results Only 730 cases coupled with complete information could be used in the statistical analysis.The rate of lens opacity for all the radiation workers was 10.27％.The rates of lens opacity by exposure group were estimated to be 9.07％ for radiation diagnosis and therapy group,11.11％ for intervention group,18.18％ for nuclear medicine group,and 9.33％ for industrial application group,respectively.Compared with those in the radiation diagnosis and therapy group,the workers engaged in intervention medicine,or nuclear medicine,were more likely to suffer from the lens opacity in posterior subcapsular position.The OR and its 95％ confidence intervals were 3.00 (1.23-7.33),4.12 (1.68-10.11) for the workers in intervention medicine or nuclear medicine group.Conclusions Medical radiation workers,who were exposed to long-term low-dose of ionizing radiation,especially those who engaged in intervention or nuclear medicine,were at significantly higher risk to develop lens opacity.