Diabetes Mellitus Incidence and the Risk of its Occurrence in Liquidators of the ChNPP Accident Consequences including Nuclear Industry Workers

Summary: Investigation purposes Diabetes mellitus (DM) occupies the largest share in the structure of endocrine system diseases, nutritional disorders and metabolic disorders, which is currently one of the important priorities of national health systems. Research on certain groups of the population with their own harmful occupational risk factors is relevant. Analysis of the incidence of diabetes mellitus of the second type - T2DM (ICD 10: E11-E11.9) of liquidators of the consequences of the Chernobyl accident ‒ workers of nuclear industry enterprises for 30 years of observation and assessment of the radiation risk of its occurrence.

Material and methods: The study includes data from the Industry register of persons exposed to radiation as a result of the Chernobyl accident over a thirty-year period, having a verified dose of external radiation received during work in the 30 km zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, men – 12663 people, 1327, of whom have data on the dose of occupational irradiation. The Poisson process with an intensity parameter was chosen as a statistical model of morbidity.

Results: The incidence of T2DM in liquidators of the consequences of the Chernobyl accident was estimated by age and sex groups. On the basis of the obtained file of individual unstratified data, an analytical likelihood function for the Poisson process was constructed and the value of the excess relative risk (ERR) of T2DM incidence was calculated and the nature of the dose dependence of RR was investigated. A cohort epidemiological study of a group of liquidators in 1986–1990 was carried out. over a thirty-year period, depending on the dose, both received during the liquidation of the consequences of the Chernobyl accident, and during professional work with radioactive substances (RS) and sources of ionizing radiation (IRS). Direct estimates of the radiogenic risk of diabetes mellitus are given. Different values ​​of risk were noted when using doses from different types of radiation. There was no significant increase in the risk of disease per dose unit (ERR / Sv).

Conclusion: With the aging of the cohort of liquidators, an increase in the incidence of T2DM was noted in both men and women. The results obtained on the assessment of the radiation risk of T2DM at this stage are taken as preliminary, since the use of radiation risk in the development of radiation safety regulations requires a total dose from all types of exposure (professional, emergency, medical, natural).