Risks of noncancer diseases in the cohort of personnel involved in the disposal of nuclear munitions

Abstract

The aim was to estimate the risk of non-tumor disease incidence in the cohort of workers involved in the disposal of nuclear munitions as a function of non-radiational and radiological factors. Materials and Methods. The retrospective cohort study included 8078 nuclear industry employees involved in nuclear munitions disposition and covered the period from recruitment to December 31, 2018. Risk analysis for non-tumor diseases was performed based on Poisson regression using the AMFIT module of the EPICURE software. Relative risk estimates were obtained for the following factors: body mass index, blood pressure, smoking index, alcohol consumption status, external gamma and internal alpha radiation dose. 95% confidence intervals for relative risk were calculated by the maximum likelihood method. Results were considered statistically significant at p < 0.05. Results. In the study cohort of workers, 2168 cases of coronary heart disease, 2961 cases of cerebrovascular disease, 2995 cases of arterial hypertension, 742 cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and 556 cases of diabetes mellitus were registered at the end of the observation period. Overweight and obesity, elevated blood pressure, smoking and alcohol abuse statistically significantly increased the risk of non-tumor disease among workers in the study cohort. The incidence of non-tumor diseases statistically significantly increased with increasing age of workers. Discussion. The results of the present study are consistent with data from numerous large-scale international studies, previous cohort studies of nuclear industry workers, and meta-analyses. Conclusion. The risk of non-tumor disease among workers involved in the disposal of nuclear munitions was statistically significantly influenced by both well-known non-radiation and radiation risk factors.