| Summary: | 碩士 === 中國醫藥大學 === 醫務管理學系碩士在職專班 === 101 === Objectives:
Due to occupational exposure to radiation, the risk of radiation-associated diseases among radiological technologists was concerned. Despite the expertise in radioprotection, radiological technologists are still likely to have long-term exposure of low dose radiation which might cause significant health impact. Cancers are the leading cause of death in Taiwan. The study investigated the incidence risk of cancers among radiological technologists compared to that of the general population and further explored the related factors on the incidence risk of cancers.
Method:
This was a retrospective cohort study and the data were derived from the National Health Insurance Research Database. The registry for medical personnel was access to identify radiological technologists. Claim data from 1998-2010 were used for subsequent analysis in this study. There were 1,792 individuals registered as a radiological technologist before 2000. To minimize selection bias, the comparison group was selected from general population after 1:10 propensity score matching yielding 17,920 individuals from the general population. We used the Cox proportional hazards model to analyze the incidence risk of cancers among radiological technologists compared to the general population and to identify the related factors. Incidence risk of specific cancers among radiological technologists compared to the general population was also analyzed.
Results:
In this study, there were 43 radiological technologists with cancer identified (2.40%) compared to 372 cases in the general population (2.08%). Relative risk of cancer among the radiological technologists compared to the general population was 1.24 (95% CI 0.90~1.70). Relative risk of cancer for male compared to female was 0.60 (95% CI 0.29~1.24). Incidence risk of cancers increased with age and peaked in those aged 65 and older in which relative risk was 10.29. Among the comorbidities, those with a history of hepatitis B had a highest risk of cancers. Besides, pulmonary tuberculosis, thyroid diseases, hepatitis C and chronic renal diseases were also identified as risk factors for cancers. The overall incidence of cancers per 100,000 person-year is higher for radiological technologists than the general population. Specifically, radiological technologists had higher incidences per 100,000 person-year of thyroid, liver, breast, colon, gastric, ovarian, lung cancers and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The incidence risk of leukemia of radiological technologists was not significant different comparing to the general population.
Conclusion:
In this study, we found, although not statistical significant, a relative risk of 1.24 of the overall incidence risk of cancers among radiological technologists compared to the general population. We found radiological technologists had significant higher incidence per 100,000 person-year than that of the general population regarding overall and several specific cancers including thyroid cancer. This study revealed the possibility of increased incidence risk of cancers. Ongoing attention to the integrity and quality of radioprotection is mandatory.
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