Association between occupational ionizing radiation exposure duration and the increased risk of dyslipidemia: evidence from a large group of radiation workers
Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Background Although radiation workers’ exposure levels consistently remained below established safety thresholds, accumulating evidence demonstrates that chronic low-dose ionizing radiation exposure may still pose significant health risks to humans. We aimed to explore the relationship between the years of low-dose radiation work and dyslipidemia. Methods We collected occupational and physical examination data of 10,338 radiation workers from 1,200 workplaces during 2019–2020 in Guangdong Province, China. After controlling for social demographic and health behavior confounders, we used a mixed-effects model to assess the association of ionizing radiation exposure duration with blood lipid biomarkers as well as the prevalence of dyslipidemia. We further comprehensively evaluated the modifying effects of various demographic characteristics, health behavior factors, and air pollutant concentrations. Results We found that participants with prolonged ionizing radiation exposure tended to have 8–40% higher levels of total cholesterol (TC) compared to those with < 10 years of exposure. The estimates were 9–23% for triglycerides (TG) and 5–26% for low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). Similar disparities were observed for the prevalence of overall dyslipidemia, abnormal TC or TG, hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, and high β-lipoproteinemia, with odds being 1.51–2.45 times higher in the group with > 30 years of ionizing radiation exposure compared to others. Our estimates further indicated greater effect estimates for prolonged ionizing radiation exposure and the prevalence of lipid abnormalities (p < 0.05) among the females, unmarried ones, and the workers with normal BMI. Conclusion These findings suggest a deleterious effect of prolonged ionizing radiation exposure on lipid metabolism, with certain groups of workers being particularly vulnerable.
Source: Frontiers in Public Health
Authors: Meimei Zhong, Xiaowen Wang, Qifeng Li, Zhijia Wu, Xiangyuan Huang, Xinyue Li, Yiqing Lian, Yingyi Peng, Zhiqiang Li, Zhifang Liu, Qia Wang, Yajun Gong, Peixia Hu, Xiaoyong Liu, Shuming Zhu, Shaomin Wu, Fangfang Zeng, Yiru Qin, Qiying Nong, Jinhan Wang, Yeqing Gu, Yongshun Huang, Wangjian Zhang, Na Zhao
Language: English
Subfield: Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,801
Funders: China Association for Science and Technology, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Sun Yat-sen University, Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, Ministry of Education, India, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Shanxi Medical University, Guangzhou Municipal Science and Technology Bureau, Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation of Guangdong Province
OpenAlex ID: W4413314099