Healthcare workers may be occupationally exposed to low dose rate radiation or different
chemicals during their work. There are strong associations between the increased frequency
of spontaneous chromosomal aberrations in blood lymphocytes and the risk of cancer.
Cytogenetic tests were conducted on 1240 healthy medical workers and cancer incidence
was followed up between 1997-2018. Both structural and numerical chromosome aberrations
were evaluated and the results were compared taking into account gender, age, and
smoking. The frequency of aberrant cells was significantly higher in smoker males
than in non-smokers (p=0.009). Within the same study period, there was no significant
difference in chromosome aberrations between the potentially exposed group of workers
and the control group. Among 82 cancer cases (6.6%) the most common tumors were breast
(16), colon (12), lung (7) and thyroid gland cancers (7). Our analysis showed 7.3%
cancer occurrence among smokers compared to 6.2% among non-smokers. These results
suggest that in our cases cytogenetic effects of smoking are more deleterious than
occupational exposures.
