The risk of infant mortality among the offspring of the workers of radiation hazardous production

Infant mortality is an indicator of healthcare quality and social well-being in a society and could be used as an important parameter in assessing the effects produced by parental occupational exposures on the offspring health. The objective of the study: to analyze the risk of infant mortality in the cohort of the 1st generation offspring of the workers of Mayak Production Association (PA), the first atomic production facility in Russia. Infant mortality and its components were analyzed in a cohort of children (n = 24,780) born in 1949-1973; the main group comprised 14,435 offspring of Mayak PA workers; the comparison group contained 10,345 children of unexposed parents. Incidence and relative risk of early and late neonatal, postneonatal and infant mortality were assessed taking into account the offspring sex, calendar period of birth, nosologies, parental age, categories of accumulated doses of parental preconception occupational exposure. Relative risk was calculated with 95 % confidence interval. A higher incidence of postneonatal and infant mortality as a whole was established among the offspring of unexposed parents. Infectious pathology as a cause of death was registered among the offspring of Mayak PA workers statistically significantly less often than in the comparison group. Infant mortality rate in the main group was lower in parental age categories of 21-25 and 31-35 years as well as among younger fathers. A higher rate of infant mortality in certain categories of accumulated doses of occupational preconception gamma-exposure was caused by the contribution of infectious nosologies. Infant mortality due to malignant neoplasms in the main group requires further epidemiological analysis. A retrospective analysis demonstrated higher rates of infant mortality and of its components among the children of unexposed parents that could be possibly explained through the “healthy worker effect” and better social well-being of Mayak PA personnel.