Survive the A-Bomb, Die Prematurely from Stroke and Heart Disease

The survivors of the World War II atomic bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki may have thought about themselves lucky, at least at first. Soon thereafter, however, those who didn’t die from radiation poisoning learned that the radiation from the bombings placed themselves & their babies at increased risk of cancer. Now, they can add heart illness & stroke to their list of potential medical issues.
A recent article in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) examined the rates of death from heart illness & stroke in survivors of these bombings based on their distance from the epicenter & later calculated radiation exposure. It found that those exposed to higher doses of radiation had an increased risk of both stroke & heart illness, with excess relative risk per grey of radiation of 9% for the former & 14% for the latter. Correcting for other habits known to be associated with both conditions had no impact on their findings, proposing that the radiation alone was responsible for their findings.
While no one anticipates another atomic bombing, the results of this study are still relevant due to the widespread exposure of individuals to radiation from medical diagnostic tests such as CT scans. According to a publication from the Health Physics Society, the standard CT scan of the pelvis delivers about 10 mSv of radiation (by comparison, people are exposed to 3 mSv from natural background radiation yearly). An angioplasty can deliver up to 57 mSv. Not only that, it's become increasingly apparent that even modern radiologic equipment is liable to failure, with recent reports of patients receiving several-fold greater doses of radiation than intended. Two times felt to be administered with doses of radiation low to cause any long-term ill effects, such tests are likely to come under increased scrutiny as potential causative agents in heart issues.