Pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases in liquidators of Chernobyl disaster in the long term

The article reveals findings of a study into disease incidence among workers involved in cleanup of the disaster at Chernobyl NPP (the so-called liquidators), the state of their cardiorespiratory systems and their bodies' ability to adapt. The study examined a group of 27 liquidators with an average radiation dose of 205.9 mSv (95% CI: 117.8; 234.0); the reference group (RG) consisted of 17 men who had never been exposed to ionizing radiation. The groups were comparable in terms of age. When ranking diseases by incidence in the first group, research found that coronary artery disease (CAD) ranked first; cerebrovascular diseases (CVD) and essential hypertension (EH), second and third, respectively. In the RG, the top three were osteochondrosis, CAD and EH. The average age of liquidators suffering from these diseases was 8.4, 20.3 and 6.4 years lower than that of members of the RG, respectively. The group of liquidators showed high incidence of CAD (RR=2.6 and OR=19.3; p=0.001), CVD (RR=7.4 and OR=50.0; p=0.000) and EH (RR=1.5 and OR=3.2; p>0.05). 44% of liquidators were found to have hypokinetic type of central hemodynamics (RR=2.5; p0.05) more men with slower rate of aging, which indicated at higher pressure on their adaptation mechanisms.