Authors : Khaled Z. Alawneh, Liqaa A. Raffee, Haytham A. Al Ewaidat and Ahed J. Alkhatib
Abstract: Exposure to radiation has health impacts that extend to a long time and may deteriorate the biological functions of various organs. The objectives of the present study were to determine the levels of lead (Pb+2) and thyroid function test among study participants. A total of 100 subjects were selected of whom 50 subjects were workers in Radiology Department at King Abdulla University hospitals and 50 control subjects. A blood sample was with drawn from each participant to assess the levels of lead (Pb+2), T3, T4 and TSH. We analyzed the data using descriptive statistics to determine frequencies and percentages, means and standard deviations to present study variables. The differences in means were examined using independent t-test while Pearson correlation was used to test the correlation of study variables. Significance was considered at p = 0.05. Study findings showed that the mean lead (Pb+2) in persons who were exposed to medical radiation was 7.89±3.73 μg/dL and this was significantly (p = 0.000) lower than that of control subjects (11.9±2.58 μg/dL). No significant variations in the difference of means for T3 and TSH were observed in study groups. A significant difference in means was observed for T4 (p = 0.025). A significantly negative correlation was observed between the lead level of study subjects and control subjects (p = 0.000). Other significantly positive correlations were observed between lead (Pb+2) of patients and TSH-patients (p = 0.008), T3 of patients and TSH of patients (0.033), T4 of patients and TSH of patients (p = 0.000). Taken together, our data demonstrated for the first time that exposure to radiation decreases the levels of blood lead and impacts thyroid function tests.
Khaled Z. Alawneh, Liqaa A. Raffee, Haytham A. Al Ewaidat and Ahed J. Alkhatib, 2018. The Impact of Exposure to Medical Radiation on Lead (Pb+2) and Thyroid Function Test. Research Journal of Medical Sciences, 12: 31-34.