Evaluation of the relationship between the working conditions and possible health effects of ionizing radiation on healthcare workers in cardiology angiography laboratories in İzmir

Introduction and Aim: Employees of cardiology angiography laboratories are exposed to ionizing radiation due to their working environment and the frequency of interventional procedures performed in cardiology is increasing day by day. In addition to proved health effects of ionizing radiation, the effects of low levels of ionizing radiation exposure are not well known. The health effects related with radiation in employees are the availability of protective measures, working conditions, individual factors etc. The aim of this study is to define socio-demographic characteristics, working conditions, occupational health and safety precautions, health history, health behaviors and health symptoms and to determine possible health effects of ionizing radiation and related factors on healthcare workers in cardiology angiography laboratories in public, university and private hospitals in İzmir. Material and Methods: The universe of this study, which is planned as a cross-sectional study, constitutes health workers (doctor + nurse + health technician) working in cardiology angiography laboratories in private, public and university hospitals in Izmir (N: 161). No sample was selected in the survey and it was planned to reach the entire universe. The coverage of the survey is 80.1%. Dependent variable of the research was having a diagnosed disease. The independent variables are socio-demographic factors, working conditions, occupational health and safety precautions, health history, health behaviors and health symptoms. Data were collected between August 2016- March 2017 by face-to-face interview. In the analysis of the relationship between dependent and independent variables, Chi-Square, Fisher's exact test and Student's T test were used. Logistic regression analysis was used to control of the confounding factors. Results: The average age of the study group was 36.3 ± 9.0 and 62.8% of the study group was male health workers. 56,6% of the employees work as doctors, 28,7% as nurses and 14,7% as health technicians and 72,1% of the research group works in the public sector. Average duration of exposure to ionizing radiation was 9.0 ± 8.0 years. In the present legal case, 76.4% of health workers who have permit because of radiation, were used their permits every year regularly. 54.3% of health workers reported that they had training on radiation safety. The percentage of the health care worker who always use protective equipment: lead aprons (100%), thyroid shield (91.5%), lead shield (32.6%), lead glasses (21.7%) and gloves (2.3%). 38.8% of the health workers used their dosimeters at all time of the exposed periods. 31.8% (n: 41) of the health workers in the study group had a diagnosed disease and the first three diseases were thyroid gland diseases (12.4%), depression (6.2%) and anemia (4.7%). A statistically significant difference was found between the presence of diagnosed disease and research participants' age, sex, profession, vocational experience, working at weekend, working on call, the time worked by exposure to ionizing radiation, having a permit because of radiation, the presence of actual service hike, regular use of lead shield, regular control of personal protective eqipments, regular use of dosimeters, the presence of cancer or genetic diseases in first degree relatives. The presence of a diagnosed disease risk was 5.3 fold more in those who are work on call and 4 fold more in those who define the use of lead screen as "sometimes + never" in the multiple logistic regression analyzes Conclusion: The presence of a diagnosed disease in the study was determined based on the people's say and in these group diseases where the cause of the disease is multifactorial, there is a need for further studies involving laboratories and examination findings where workers' radiative effects can be evaluated in more detail. Key Words: healthcare workers; ionizing radiation; occupational health and safety