Ionizing radiation exposure is associated with long-term risks of circulatory and metabolic diseases, though evidence at lower levels of exposure remains unclear and requires further research.
Does ionizing radiation exposure increase the risk of circulatory and metabolic diseases?
This review emphasizes the long-term risks of circulatory and metabolic diseases following ionizing radiation exposure, particularly highlighting knowledge gaps regarding low-dose exposures.
Risks to health are the prime consideration in all human situations of ionizing radiation exposure and therefore of relevance to radiation protection in all occupational, medical, and public exposure situations. Over the past few decades, advances in therapeutic strategies have led to significant improvements in cancer survival rates. However, a wide range of long-term complications have been reported in cancer survivors, in particular circulatory diseases and their major risk factors, metabolic diseases. However, at lower levels of exposure, the evidence is less clear. Under real-life exposure scenarios, including radiotherapy, radiation effects in the whole organism will be determined mainly by the response of normal tissues receiving relatively low doses, and will be mediated and moderated by systemic effects. Therefore, there is an urgent need for further research on the impact of low-dose radiation. In this article, we review radiation-associated risks of circulatory and metabolic diseases in clinical, occupational or environmental exposure situations, addressing epidemiological, biological, risk modelling, and systems biology aspects, highlight the gaps in knowledge and discuss future directions to address these gaps.
Tapio et al. (Tue,) conducted a review in Circulatory and metabolic diseases. Ionizing radiation was evaluated. Ionizing radiation exposure is associated with long-term risks of circulatory and metabolic diseases, though evidence at lower levels of exposure remains unclear and requires further research.