Influence factors of chromosomal aberration levels in radiation workers in hospitals / 中华放射医学与防护杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the influence factors of chromosomal aberration levels in radiation workers in hospitals.Methods:Two hundred and fourteen age- and sex- matched hospital radiation workers were recruited by stratified random sampling method. According to the job title, the individuals were divided into four groups including diagnostic radiology group ( n=57), radiotherapy group ( n=49), nuclear medicine group ( n=52) and interventional radiology group ( n=56). Chromosomal aberrations in peripheral blood lymphocytes from the subjects were measured using conventional cytogenetic analysis method, and the influence factors of chromosomal aberrations were analyzed. Results:There was significant difference in the frequencies of acentric fragment, translocation and total chromosome-type aberrations among the four groups ( χ2=9.906, 19.965, 32.824, P<0.05), and the rates of aberrations were significantly higher in the interventional radiology group and the nuclear medicine groups than those in the diagnostic radiology (interventional group: χ2=4.711, 10.798, 10.845, P<0.05; nuclear medicine group: χ2=3.853, 7.674, 7.708, P<0.05) and the radiotherapy groups (interventional group: χ2=9.209, 9.772, 21.330, P<0.05; nuclear medicine group: χ2=8.010, 6.969, 10.812, P<0.05). The rates of translocation and total aberrations ( χ2=7.706, 6.667, P<0.05) and the frequencies of acentric fragment, translocation and total aberrations ( χ2=12.263, 15.360, 21.478, P<0.01) were dependent on the length of service and the dose among different groups. The rates of translocation and total aberrations significantly increased along with exposure doses ( r=0.347, 0.263, P<0.01). Poisson regression analysis indicated that the job titles and annual effective dose partly affected the levels of chromosomal aberrations[ IRR=1.797 (nuclear medicine group), 2.136 (interventional group) and 1.422 (0.5-1 mSv group); P<0.05]. Conclusions:The frequencies of chromosomal aberrations in the radiation workers of interventional and nuclear medicine groups remain higher levels in hospital, thus it is necessary to strengthen the radiation protection on these radiation workers.