Micronucleus abnormalities and sex differences in medical staff exposed to occupational ionizing radiation: a retrospective cohort study
After adjustment for measurable confounders, female healthcare workers exhibited significantly higher levels of cytogenetic damage. This association may reflect a combination of biological susceptibility, unmeasured occupational exposures, and behavioral factors-rather than cumulative physical radiation dose alone. These findings support including sex as a biological variable in occupational radiation safety protocols to improve risk stratification. They also highlight the need for future research to disentangle biological sex effects from correlated occupational and lifestyle determinants.
Authors
- Jingyi Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5311-4795)
- Fang Gao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0003-7818)
- Junkang Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-0900-0138)
- Ruonan Duan
- Yuanling Wu
- Bozheng Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1199-2175)
- Ruijuan Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1147-9240)
- Jing Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5620-3411)
- Junyan Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1537-1130)
- Huiqin Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0698-0252)
- Guanben Du (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5491-5116)
- ZY Guo
Institutions
- Emory University (US)
- Shanxi Medical University (CN)
- Shanxi Academy of Medical Sciences (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Frontiers in Public Health
- Published
- 2025-12-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1730667
- Primary Topic
- Carcinogens and Genotoxicity Assessment
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00