Reproductive Effects of Exposure to Low-Dose Ionizing Radiation: A Long-Term Follow-Up of Immigrant Women Exposed to the Chernobyl Accident.

Julie Cwikel,Danna Slusky,Ruslan Sergienko,Rachel Abramovitz,Eyal Sheiner,Gil Gutvirtz,Michael Quastel

doi:10.3390/jcm9061786

Abstract

The Chernobyl accident in 1986 spread ionizing radiation over extensive areas of Belarus and Ukraine, leading to adverse health effects in exposed children. More than 30 years later, exposed children have grown and became parents themselves. This retrospective study from Israel was aimed to evaluate whether Chernobyl-exposed women are at higher risk for adverse reproductive outcomes. Exposed immigrants were identified as high or low exposure based on Caesium-137 soil contamination levels registered in the town they lived in. The exposed group was age matched with three comparison groups: non-exposed immigrant women from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) excluding Belarus and the Ukraine, immigrants from other countries (Non FSU) and Israeli-born women at a ratio of 1:10. Chernobyl-exposed women were more likely to be nulliparous and have fewer children (2.1 + 0.8 vs. 3.1 + 1.8, p < 0.001), were more likely to undergo fertility treatments (8.8% vs. 5.8%, adjusted OR = 1.8, 95%CI 1.04–3.2, p = 0.036), and were also more likely to have anemia after delivery (49.4% vs. 36.6%, OR = 1.7, 95%CI 1.2–2.3, p = 0.001), compared to women in the combined comparison groups. The overall fertility of Chernobyl-exposed women seems to be reduced as reflected by the lower number of children and their greater need for fertility treatments.

Highlights

The worst environmental disaster of the twentieth century occurred in the early morning of 26th, April 1986, when the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl exploded blowing off the 1000-ton concrete roof and dispersing radioactive particles all over Europe
Chernobyl-exposed women were more likely to be nulliparous at the index birth (27.4% and 22.7% for high and low exposure groups, respectively), compared with Former Soviet Union (FSU) immigrants (17.5%) and other immigrants (13.3%) and Israelis (13.5%)
This study investigated the reproductive outcomes of women who were exposed to the Chernobyl nuclear plant accident as children or young adults

Summary

Introduction

The worst environmental disaster of the twentieth century occurred in the early morning of 26th, April 1986, when the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl exploded blowing off the 1000-ton concrete roof and dispersing radioactive particles all over Europe. The explosion caused the graphite outer layer of the reactor to burn for days and firemen, soldiers, students and volunteers were brought in from all over the Soviet Union to try to “liquidate” the burning, giving rise to the term “liquidators” for the highly exposed salvage workers. Contamination occurred through different pathways: (1) direct exposure of body surfaces to radioactive strontium, plutonium, iodine and cesium from the reactor core, with each element tending to aggregate in a different organ in the body, e.g., radioactive iodine is absorbed in the thyroid, radioactive cesium in the soft tissues [2], (2) inhalation of radioactive dust; and (3) indirect absorption of radioactive, contaminated food and water, caused by contamination of the water sources and the food chain. Primarily thyroid cancer, has been documented among exposed cohorts [3,4]

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