Radiation Exposure Increases Heart Disease Risk

A large study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology suggests that workers employed in nuclear plants might be at an increased risk of heart disease on account of exposure to chronic radiation. The researchers found that extended exposure to even low levels of radiation was enough to cause heart disease.

The study findings are not new as several previous studies have already linked radiation exposure to heart risk. These have however all been concentrated on high exposure over a short period of time. The new study was a comparatively larger one and covered more than 65,000 nuclear plant workers.

Researchers at Westlakes Scientific Consulting led by Dr. Steve Jones studied these workers who were employed at four sites operated by British Nuclear Fuels plc and its earlier versions between 1946 and 2002. The team focused on non-cancer death rates and used the personal dosimeter badges of the workers to assess cumulative radiation exposure.

A pronounced heart risk was seen in the 42,000 odd workers who were exposed to relatively high levels of radiation when they were compared to office workers and other employees. As the level of radiation exposure increased, so did the risk. Life expectancy was not found to be affected by much with just about a year’s decrease noted.

The risk was found to be greatest for workers employed prior to the improved safety conditions introduced in the 1980s. At the same time, top doses in the study were also found to be 5 to 10 times lower than the radiation experienced by survivors of an atomic bomb.

“Our results provide more evidence of a link,” said Dr. Jones, a researcher at Westlakes Scientific Consulting. “This adds to the evidence of similar associations from other studies.” Despite the positive link, the researchers called for further studies to take into consideration factors such as diet, exercise, cholesterol levels and smoking habits, all of which can have an effect on the heart.

Dudley Goodhead, a radiation expert at the Medical Research Council, who was not involved in the research referred to studies on atomic bomb survivors in Japan that had also found a link to heart disease. “The findings of the present study clearly suggest that even chronic exposure to radiation, spread over long periods of time such as received by some radiation workers in the past, may also be able to cause increased heart disease,” he said.

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