Radiobiological consequences of iodine deficiency in the population of Belarus during the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster: incidence of thyroid diseases forty years later

Authors

  • Sergey V. Petrenko International Sakharov Environmental Institute, Belarusian State University
  • Anatoly N. Batyan International Sakharov Environmental Institute, Belarusian State University
  • Irina V. Pukhteeva International Sakharov Environmental Institute, Belarusian State University
  • Maria S. Petrenko International Sakharov Environmental Institute, Belarusian State University
  • Sergey A. Laptenok International Sakharov Environmental Institute, Belarusian State University

Keywords:

iodine deficiency, 40 years after the Chernobyl disaster, children of Belarus, goiter and autoimmune thyroiditis incidence, genomic instability
Supporting Agencies
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus for this work during the implementation of research topic 3.03.04 «Assessment of the microelement status of the population living in the zone of influence of negative anthropogenic and natural factors in order to develop methods for preventing their negative impact on the thyroid gland» within the framework of the State Program for Scientific Research «Natural Resources and the Environment» for 2021–2025

Abstract

Several years before the Chernobyl disaster, funding for the iodine prophylaxis program in Belarus was halted. As a result of the existing iodine deficiency, over 25,000 cases of thyroid cancer were registered in children in the decades following the disaster. In 1999, a large-scale study assessing iodine status using modern analytical methods found that 80 % of children showed signs of mild or moderate iodine deficiency, with urinary iodine excretion levels of 45 μg/L (with a target level of 100–150 μg/L). Subsequent iodine deficiency prevention in the Belarusian population, initiated in 2000 following the adoption of the regulatory document of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus «On the Prevention of Iodine Deficiency Disorders», resulted in a significant increase in the median urinary iodine excretion in children (over 100 μg/L) in 2003, thereby eliminating iodine deficiency and significantly reducing the incidence of simple goiter among the country's children. In 2010, the Republic of Belarus was removed from the list of countries with iodine deficiency. At the same time, over the past twenty years, a significant increase in the incidence of autoimmune thyroiditis (AIT) has been observed among children in the Brest and Grodno regions, and an increase of the incidence of thyroid cancer has been observed in the Brest and others regions. These changes in thyroid disease rates in the context of long-term iodine deficiency prevention are unusual, given the presence of iodine deficiency in the population at the time of the Chernobyl disaster, which contributed to the entry and accumulation of iodine radionuclides in the body and was the cause of the radiological consequences of iodine deficiency in the population of the republic. The article puts forward a hypothesis that exposure to iodine radionuclides is responsible for the development of radiation-induced genomic instability syndrome in thyroid cells.

Author Biographies

  • Sergey V. Petrenko, International Sakharov Environmental Institute, Belarusian State University

    PhD (medicine), docent; associate professor at the department of environmental medicine and radiobiology

  • Anatoly N. Batyan, International Sakharov Environmental Institute, Belarusian State University

    doctor of science (medicine), full professor; head of the department of environmental medicine and radiobiology

  • Irina V. Pukhteeva, International Sakharov Environmental Institute, Belarusian State University

    senior lecturer at the department of environmental medicine and radiobiology

  • Maria S. Petrenko, International Sakharov Environmental Institute, Belarusian State University

    student, faculty of environmental medicine

  • Sergey A. Laptenok, International Sakharov Environmental Institute, Belarusian State University

    PhD (engineering), docent; associate professor at the department of nuclear and medical technology

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Published

2026-08-10

Issue

No. 2 (2026): Journal of the Belarusian State University. Ecology

Section

Medical Ecology

How to Cite

[1]
Petrenko, S. et al. 2026. Radiobiological consequences of iodine deficiency in the population of Belarus during the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster: incidence of thyroid diseases forty years later. Journal of the Belarusian State University. Ecology. 2 (Aug. 2026), 81–88.