ENDOCRINE-METABOLIC PATHOLOGY IN CHILDREN OF FEMALE WORKERS ON NUCLEAR INDUSTRY ENTERPRISE

Abstract

The study of deviations in health status of children whose parents were exposed to radiation on production enterprise is important for radiation safety of people of reproductive age and their subsequent generations. The purpose of the study : the analysis of endocrine-metabolic pathology in the offspring of female workers of nuclear production, which had accumulated preconceptual doses of external gamma-irradiation. Material and methods : Retrospective data analysis of medical records of 650 children under 15 years old was carried out, 130 of whom were the offspring of mothers exposed to radiation in the workplace. Methods of nonparametric statistics were applied. To identify latent factors, factor analysis by the main component method was used. Results: The range of preconceptive doses of external gamma irradiation to mothers’ gonads was 0.09–3523.7 mGy, the average absorbed dose for gonads was 423.2±52.2 mGy. The structure of the class «Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases» among the descendants of irradiated and intact mothers did not significantly differ. There was predominance of rickets, malnutrition among infants in both groups. Iodine-deficiency-related thyroid disorders were most frequently recorded in the structure of thyroid gland diseases without statistically significant differences in the groups. The gender dependence was noted: endocrine-metabolic pathology occurred in girls by 1.8 times more often than among boys. Frequent occurrence of polypathies and secondary endocrine pathology were indicated in the group of children of irradiated mothers. Factor analysis in study group identified four factors characterizing the antenatal period in children (19.4% of the variance), obstetric-gynecologic anamnesis (14.1% of the variance), mothers’ bad health habits (10.6% of the variance) and preconceptional external gamma-radiation exposure of female workers (9.6% of the variance). Conclusion: The features identified in the analysis of endocrine-metabolic pathology in offspring of irradiated mothers may be useful for medical monitoring of children health status in this risk group. Increase in the observation period and in the number of children whose mothers were exposed to radiation in the workplace is necessary for further epidemiological study of the parental exposure contribution to postnatal pathology in the offspring.