The effect of the long-term exposure to x-ray on the peripheral blood cells counts: a predictive tool for the risk of a low degree of the disease severity among x-ray workers

X-ray is one of the ionizing radiation that penetrates living tissues and generate chemically active free radicals these in turn potentially causes DNA damage. This study aimed to determine hematological changes, in particular total white blood cells count (TWBC), red blood cells count (RBC) and platelets count in X-ray workers in Sudan. Following informed consent, one hundred and twenty individuals; sixty apparently healthy volunteer X-ray technicians worked 8 hours a day for six days per week, and age and sex matched sixty unexposed healthy control were enrolled. TWBC, RBC and platelets count were determined for all participants. A significant correlation between a reduction in the TWBC count and the duration of the exposure to X-ray radiation was determined, however, no significant differences were observed in the mean values of RBC, TWBC and Platelets count between the X-ray technicians and the un-exposed healthy controls. We concluded that long-term exposure to X-ray may cause a low degree of severity of disease which is expressed in terms of haematological changes