[Clinical course of chronic bronchitis in Chernobyl wreckers].

AIM: To characterize clinical symptoms of chronic bronchitis (CB) in Chernobyl wreckers.

MATERIAL AND

METHODS

71 CB male Chernobyl wreckers exposed to low-dose radiation and 43 control patients were examined and treated in a specialized hospital in 1988-1996. Clinical features of CB were investigated by clinical (complaints, history, objective examination), laboratory (total blood count, biochemical and immunological blood picture, coagulogram) and instrumental (fibrobronchoscopy, x-ray, radiometry, spirography) findings with further statistical processing.

RESULTS

Chernobyl wreckers more frequently had neurocirculatory asthenia and hemoptysis. The latter was caused by bronchial mucosa atrophy. In chronic non-obstructive bronchitis they exhibited mild bronchoobstruction on the distal level. Laboratory indices showed no essential changes.

CONCLUSION

Chernobyl wreckers have a more severe course of CB.