Estimation and comparison of the buccal epithelial micronuclei count among the population residing around the cellular towers with varying power density.

PURPOSE: Continuous whole-body radiation exposure from cellular towers may constitute a health risk that needs scientific evaluation. Micronuclei (MN) are cytoplasmic chromatin masses indicating genotoxicity that arise from chromosome fragments or due to a lag in the anaphase of whole chromosomes. The purpose of this study is to estimate and compare the MN count among the population residing around cellular towers with low, medium, and high-power density. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Healthy participants (n = 60) of both genders, aged between 18 and 30 years, residing around the cellular towers, constituted the study population. The classification of power density (PD) into three study groups, namely low, medium, and high, was created with 20 participants in each group. The buccal epithelial smear was taken with a cytobrush, fixed, and Papanicolaou (PAP) stained for counting the MN. Two experienced oral pathologists counted the MN with substantial agreeability. ANOVA was used for intergroup comparison between low, medium, and high-PD groups for MN count. Post-hoc Bonferroni correction was used for intergroup comparisons. SPSS version 25.0 was used for the statistical analysis. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: A statistically meaningful difference in the MN is observed (P = 0.018) among the three groups. On comparison to the low-PD group, there is a statistically meaningful increase (P = 0.02) in the MN count in the medium-PD group. Further, a non-significant increase in MN count is observed in the high-PD group. The preliminary observational nature of the finding indicates a non-monotonic dose-response relationship and is merely associative on buccal epithelial MN count.