Association Between Ambient Beta Particle Radioactivity and Lower Hemoglobin Concentrations in a Cohort of Elderly Men

Although ionizing radiation is known to have detrimental effects on red blood cells, the effect of environmental radioactivity associated with ambient particulate matter (PM) is unknown. We hypothesized that exposure to ambient PM-associated beta particle radioactivity (PR) would be associated with a lower hemoglobin concentration. We studied 1.704 participants from the Normative Aging Study (NAS) over 36 years (1981-2017) who lived in Eastern, MA and the surrounding area. Exposures to PR was assessed using USEPA's RadNet monitoring network that measures gross beta radiation associated with ambient PM. Mixed effect models with a random intercept adjusting for potential confounders was used, including ambient black carbon (BC) and particulate matter ≤2.5 μm (PM) concentrations. Greater cumulative PR activities at 7-, 14-, 21- and 28-days before the hemoglobin determination were associated with lower hemoglobin concentrations. The greatest effect was for a 28-day moving average. An IQR of 0.83 × 10 Bq/m of ambient PR was associated with a 0.12 g/dL decrease in hemoglobin concentration (95%CI: -0.18 to -0.05). The effects of PR were similar when the models were adjusted for ambient BC or PM. This is the first study to demonstrate an association between environmental ionizing radiation released from particulate matter with a lower hemoglobin concentration, suggesting that ambient radiation may contribute to the development of anemia.