内蒙古自治区金属矿山工人氡暴露水平及健康风险评估OA

[Background]Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that can enter the human body through the respiratory tract and cause damage to lung tissue.Radon release during mining op-eration poses significant health risks to miners. [Objective]To investigate radon concentrations in surface and underground workplaces of metal mines in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region,and to evaluate factors associated with pulmonary nodules among miners. [Methods]Six actively producing metal mines in Inner Mongolia were selected.Active radon monitors were employed to measure ambient radon concentrations in surface and underground workplaces.Anemometers were used to measure wind speeds at different locations in mines equipped with exhaust ventilation systems.Spearman correlation analysis was per-formed to examine the relationship between wind speed and ambient radon concentration.Passive radon personal dosimeters were used to estimate individual committed effective doses from radon and its progeny among 118 male miners over a two-month monitoring period.Radiological health status was assessed using low-dose CT,chromosomal aberration analysis,micronucleus assay,ocular lens ex-amination,and white blood cell counts.Information on age,work history,smoking status,and personal protective equipment usage was collected using a questionnaire.A Bayesian generalized linear mixed model(BGLMM)was fitted to examine the associations of cumulative personal dose,age,smoking status,and the smoking individual committed effective dose after occupational exposure interaction with pulmonary nodule risk,with mine included as a random intercept. [Results]The mean radon concentrations at underground monitoring points in the the six mines ranged from 24.6 to 3 126.9 Bq·m-3,with four mines exceeding 1 000 Bq·m-3.The mean radon concentrations at surface monitoring points ranged from 5.8 to 778.9 Bq·m-3.Wind speed was negatively correlated with underground radon concentration(r=-0.428,P<0.05),with the lowest wind speed and the highest radon concentration observed in the working areas.Among the 118 miners,14 had a two-month committed effective dose ex-ceeding 2 mSv(3 surface workers and 11 underground workers).Low-dose chest CT detected pulmonary nodules in 11 miners(4 surface workers and 7 underground workers).The BGLMM results showed that age was positively associated with pulmonary nodule risk(posterior OR=1.121,95%CI:1.036,1.224).Committed effective dose and smoking showed weak positive trends,whereas the smokin committed effective dose interaction was not statistically significant. [Conclusion]Some metal mines in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region exhibit elevated radon concentrations in both surface and under-ground workplaces,and inadequate ventilation is observed in certain work areas.A proportion of miners have relatively high personal committed effective doses.Among the examined factors,age is the main factor associated with pulmonary nodules in miners.