It is well established that high-dose ionising radiation causes cardiovascular diseases. In contrast, the evidence for a causal relationship between long-term risk of cardiovascular diseases after moderate doses (0.5-5 Gy) is suggestive and weak after low doses (<0.5 Gy). However, evidence is emerging that doses under 0.5 Gy may also increase long-term risk of cardiovascular disease. This would have major implications for radiation protection with respect to medical use of radiation for diagnostic purposes and occupational or environmental radiation exposure. Therefore, it is of great importance to gain information about the presence and possible magnitude of radiation-related cardiovascular disease risk at doses of less than 0.5 Gy. The biological mechanisms implicated in any such effects are unclear and results from epidemiological studies are inconsistent. Molecular epidemiological studies can improve the understanding of the pathogenesis and the risk estimation of radiation-induced circulatory disease at low doses. Within the European DoReMi (Low Dose Research towards Multidisciplinary Integration) project, strategies to conduct molecular epidemiological studies in this field have been developed and evaluated. Key potentially useful European cohorts are the Mayak workers, other nuclear workers, uranium miners, Chernobyl liquidators, the Techa river residents and several diagnostic or low-dose radiotherapy patient cohorts. Criteria for informative studies are given and biomarkers to be investigated suggested. A close collaboration between epidemiology, biology and dosimetry is recommended, not only among experts in the radiation field, but also those in cardiovascular diseases.

中文翻译：

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低剂量电离辐射和心血管疾病-欧洲分子流行病学研究策略。

众所周知，高剂量电离辐射会导致心血管疾病。相反，中等剂量（0.5-5 Gy）后心血管疾病的长期风险之间存在因果关系的证据是暗示性的，而小剂量（<0.5 Gy）后心血管疾病的长期危险性较弱。但是，越来越多的证据表明，低于0.5 Gy的剂量也可能增加心血管疾病的长期风险。就用于诊断目的的辐射的医疗用途以及职业或环境辐射的暴露而言，这将对辐射防护产生重大影响。因此，获得有关剂量小于0.5 Gy的与辐射有关的心血管疾病风险的存在和可能程度的信息，这一点非常重要。尚不清楚与任何此类作用有关的生物学机制，并且流行病学研究的结果不一致。分子流行病学研究可以提高对小剂量辐射诱发的循环系统疾病的发病机理和风险评估的认识。在欧洲DoReMi（多学科整合低剂量研究）项目中，已经制定并评估了在该领域进行分子流行病学研究的策略。欧洲潜在的重要人群包括Mayak工人，其他核工人，铀矿工，切尔诺贝利清算人，Techa河居民以及几个诊断性或低剂量放射治疗患者人群。给出了信息性研究的标准，并建议了要研究的生物标志物。流行病学，