"Pregnant Women Exposed to Radon Gas Have a 37% Higher Risk of Diabetes"

Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association

A study has found that exposure to radon (Rn) gas increases the risk of gestational diabetes (GD) by 37% in pregnant women.

Columbia University, USA.

On the 11th, Professor Ka Kahe's team at Columbia University's Irving Medical Center in the United States reported in the JAMA Network Open, a journal of the American Medical Association, that they confirmed this association.

Radon gas is a gas produced when radium-226 found in soil, rocks, and water undergoes radioactive decay. It enters indoors through cracks in buildings and can be inhaled and circulated into various organs and tissues.

The research team investigated the association between radon exposure and the risk of gestational diabetes in 9,107 participants of a prenatal monitoring program conducted at eight clinical centers from October 2010 to September 2013, using county-level indoor radon measurements taken by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL).

Pregnant women were divided into three groups based on the radon concentration they were exposed to: less than 1 picocurie per liter (pCi/L), 1?2 pCi/L, and 2 pCi/L or more. Those with pre-existing diabetes before pregnancy or without county-level radon measurements or gestational diabetes data were excluded. Among the 9,107 participants, 3,782 (41.6%) had a history of smoking, the average county-level radon concentration was 1.6 pCi/L, and 382 pregnant women (4.3%) were diagnosed with gestational diabetes.

Analysis showed that pregnant women living in counties with the highest radon levels (2 pCi/L) had a 37% higher risk of developing gestational diabetes compared to those in areas with the lowest radon levels (less than 1 pCi/L). This risk remained 36% higher even after excluding the effects of fine particulate matter (PM2.5).

In particular, those who had smoked in the past and lived in areas with high radon levels had a 2.09 times higher risk of gestational diabetes compared to those who did not. Additionally, living in areas with both high radon and high fine particulate matter levels increased the risk of gestational diabetes by 93%.

The research team stated, "These results suggest that exposure to indoor radon gas increases the risk of gestational diabetes in pregnant women. Further studies, such as personal-level residential radon exposure assessments, are needed to verify this and to elucidate the underlying mechanisms." They added, "Considering environmental risk factors in maternal health strategies is very important, and these findings will contribute to understanding environmental risk factors for gestational diabetes and developing prevention strategies."

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