Association of radiation exposure and blood lipid derived indices with hypertension risk in radiation workers.

Authors

Ruihua Ma, Yi Wang, Jiali Chen, Jingyan Gao, Lina Yan, Xia Gao

Published in

Frontiers in public health. Volume 14. Pages 1870426. Epub Jun 26, 2026.

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the relationships between occupational radiation exposure, serum lipid levels and hypertension, and to assess the potential intermediate role of lipid parameters in the relevant association.
A cross-sectional study (2,548 subjects) and a retrospective cohort study (484 subjects) were conducted among radiation workers who underwent physical examinations at a medical center in Shijiazhuang from October 2021 to March 2025. In the cross-sectional study, multivariate Logistic regression, restricted cubic spline (RCS) and mediation analysis were used to explore the association between radiation exposure and hypertension, as well as the mediating role of lipid parameters. In the cohort study, Cox proportional hazards regression, Kaplan-Meier curve, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, stratified analysis and sensitivity analysis were applied to evaluate the association and predictive performance of baseline lipid indices for incident hypertension.
The cross-sectional analysis showed that, after adjustment for confounders, radiation working years, high working-year group and industrial radiation exposure were risk factors for hypertension (all p < 0.05); high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was a protective factor, while elevated total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), fasting blood glucose/HDL-C (FBG/HDL-C), TC/HDL-C and non-HDL-C/HDL-C ratio (NHHR) were risk factors. Mediation analysis indicated that TC, TG and LDL-C might mediate the positive association between long working years and hypertension, whereas HDL-C mediated the inverse association of working years and industrial radiation with hypertension. The cohort analysis revealed that elevated baseline TG, FBG/HDL-C, TC/HDL-C and NHHR increased the risk of incident hypertension, while elevated HDL-C decreased such risk; FBG/HDL-C and TC/HDL-C showed the best predictive performance; these associations were more prominent in males and overweight individuals.
Prolonged radiation working years and industrial radiation exposure are associated with an increased risk of hypertension in radiation workers, and lipid profiles may play a mediating role. FBG/HDL-C, TC/HDL-C and NHHR are superior to conventional lipid indices in predicting hypertension. Male and overweight radiation workers are key targets for hypertension prevention and control.

PMID:
42433397
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 11 Jul 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.