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Low-dose radiation linked to heart disease

29/08/2008

Scientists have said that there may be a link between low-dose radiation and the risks of heart disease.

It is already well documented that people exposed to high-dose therapeutic radiation of more than 30-40 Gy, such as used in treating breast cancer, increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.

However, an article published in the Lancet today claims that people exposed to much lower does may also be at risk from heart disease.

Scientists at the National Cancer Institute in the US, however, admit there are considerable problems will assessing the effects of low-dose radiation effectively while excluding other factors which could be responsible for heart disease.

For example, radiation could cause cardiovascular damage in the same way as other biological pathways.

The report's authors say the risk of radiation-related heart disease is much lower than that of radiation-related cancer.

"Further investigations are needed to sort out effects of radiation and confounders in existing and planned studies of radiation-exposed cohorts, and new laboratory studies are needed to explore biological mechanisms for low-dose radiation-related cardiovascular effects," scientists claim.

"The low-dose radiation effects on cardiovascular disease risk are likely to remain challenging and controversial — even more so than the linear no-threshold arguments for cancer risk that are debated to this day — but should not be dismissed."