Updated results of the radiation epidemiological study of the incidence of the descendants of the first generation of participants in the consequences of the Chernobyl accident

When protecting and managing populations exposed to ionizing radiation, special attention is paid to the problem of proving hereditary risks of radiationinduced morbidity in humans. The study of the morbidity of the descendants of the first generation of participants in the consequences of the Chernobyl accident was carried out using data accumulated in the National Radiological and Epidemiological Registry over 38 years of observation of a cohort consisting of 15,450 descendants. The previous analysis of data on the health status of participants in the offspring cohort was conducted five years ago. Parametric modeling of morbidity did not reveal an association between the radiation dose of fathers and the prevalence of congenital diseases of their offspring. The age of the father at the time of conception was a statistically significant factor – the congenital morbidity was higher in offspring whose fathers were over 30 years old. The age of the father, his exposure, and the time elapsed from the father's exposure to the birth of the child did not affect the cancer incidence of the offspring. For most classes of noncancerous diseases, no statistically significant dependence on the dose of the father's radiation was found, but a relationship with age and time elapsed after irradiation was revealed. At the end of the study, the cohort members were under 40 years old. Continued monitoring of their health status may lead to stable estimates of radiation risk for individual diseases.