Atrophic gastritis in Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident recovery workers in remote period

Relevance. Digestive diseases are among the most common disorders affecting Chernobyl nuclear power plant (CNPP) accident recovery workers.

Intention - to assess the occurrence of atrophic changes in fundal and antral gastric mucosa, occurrence of H. pylori infection, and autoimmune gastritis in CNPP accident recovery workers in remote period. And to define connection between the obtained results and external radiation dose, duration of participation in recovery works, and the date of participation.

Methodology. 197 CNPP accident recovery workers were examined 30 years or more after the accident. 106 employees of the EMERCOM of Russia were included in comparison group. Levels of basal gastrin-17, pepsinogen I, pepsinogen II, anti- parietal cell antibodies, anti-H. pylori antibodies were evaluated in all the patients. Information on external radiation dose, duration of participation in recovery works, and date of participation was provided by North-West regional center of National Radiation Epidemiological Registry.

Results and discussion. Atrophic changes of gastric body mucosa were found in 12.7 % of CNPP accident recovery workers vs 8.1 % of patients (p < 0.01) in comparison group. Gastric antrum atrophy was also statistically significantly (p < 0.01) more common in CNPP accident recovery workers (24.4 %) than in comparison group (10.8 %), as well as atrophic pangastritis (2.0 % vs 0.9 %, p < 0.01). There was no statistically significant difference (p > 0.05) in anti-parietal cell antibodies between 2 groups: the test was positive in 39.1 % of CNPP accident recovery workers and in 37.7 % of comparison group patients. Meanwhile, increased levels of anti- H. pylori antibodies were observed in 70.1 % of CNPP accident recovery workers vs 28.2 % of comparison group patients (p < 0.05).

Conclusion. Atrophic changes in gastric body and fundal mucosa and H. pylori infection were more common in CNPP accident recovery workers than in patients of comparison group. There were no correlations between these changes and external radiation dose, duration of the participation in recovery works and the date of participation in CNPP recovery activities.

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