Introduction
Interventional cardiology procedures (ICPs) such as percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and radiofrequency catheter ablation have become mainstay treatments to improve clinical outcomes in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD)1, 2 and cardiac arrhythmias3, 4. Current ICP routinely requires x-ray guidance. The occupational health hazards (OHHs) associated with x-ray radiation exposure in interventional cardiologists have been well-recognized5. Wearing of lead personal protective equipment (PPE) is warranted to minimize the harm caused by radiation exposure. However, long-time wearing of heavy lead PPE produces subsequent OHH that is usually ignored: body pain. Previous research has reported the correlation between wearing lead aprons and spine problems6, 7. A survey of interventional cardiologists in the United States showed that nearly half of the participants suffered chronic back pain and one-fourth had problems related to their hips, knees, or ankles8.
It is estimated that over 1 million ICPs are conducted annually by about 5,000 interventional cardiologists in 2,000 tertiary cardiac care facilities in China9. PCI is one of the major types of ICPs, with annual volume increased by 21 times from 2001 to 2011 in China2. Another major type of ICPs is cardiac arrhythmia catheter ablation, which increased by 1.7 times from 2009 to 201610. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrythmia, with > 10 million patients in China11. However, the proportion of patients with AF that received ablation therapy in China was only 1.22%, much lower than that in developed countries (about 5% in the United States12 and 28.2% in Japan13). Predictably, the volume of AF ablation procedure will increase dramatically due to high level of recommendation for catheter ablation14. The burgeoning need for ICPs demands interventional cardiologists in China to work harder, which puts them at a higher risk of OHHs.
To explore their OHHs and the unmet health protection needs, the Chinese Society of Cardiology (CSC) and Chinese Heart Rhythm Society (CHRS) endorsed this national online survey in the registered interventional cardiologists.