Objective  To examine health status of the people with long-term and low-dose radiation exposure and to provide evidences for health surveillance in occupational population.

  Methods  We conducted a cross-sectional survey among 594 occupational people with the annual radiation exposure of less than 50 millisievert (mSv) or the 5-year accumulated exposure of less than 20 mSv (exposure group) and 297 age- and gender-matched health examinees without radiation exposure during previous 6 months (control group) in Liaoning province in 2016. General demographic information and occupational radiation exposure condition were collected with face-to-face interviews and physical examinations were carried out according to the requirement of Occupational Health Management for Radiation Workers among all the participants. Descriptive statistical analysis method was adopted in the study.

  Results  Compared to those in the controls, the abnormal rate of white blood count (WBC) (0.042 % vs. 0.015 %) and the detection rates of lens turbidity (0.150 % vs. 0.030 %) of the exposure group were significantly higher (both P < 0.05), but no significant differences in abnormal rates of hemoglobin (HB), platelet (PLT), and blood glucose (GLU) were observed between the two groups (P > 0.05 for all). The detection rates of turbidity were 0.039%, 0.063%, and 0.133% among the participants with radiation exposure duration of 0 – 9, 10 – 19 and ≥ 20 years, respectively, with a statistical significance (P < 0.05). No significant differences in health indicators were found among the participants with diverse occupational history such as radiotherapy, interventional radiology, radiodiagnosis, radiation process and industrial X-ray detection.

  Conclusion  Long-term and low-dose radiation exposure has certain health impacts on health among occupational people; protection awareness needs to be promoted and regular health examination should be conducted among radiation-exposed occupational people.