Cancer Deaths and Occupational Exposure in a Group of Plutonium Workers

Any potential health effects of radiation emitted from radionuclides deposited in the bodies of workers exposed to radioactive materials can be directly investigated through epidemiological studies. However, estimates of radionuclide exposure and consequent tissue-specific doses, particularly for early workers for whom monitoring was relatively crude but exposures tended to be highest, can be uncertain, limiting the accuracy of risk estimates. We review the use of job-exposure matrices (JEMs) in peer-reviewed epidemiological and exposure assessment studies of nuclear industry workers exposed to radioactive materials as a method for addressing gaps in exposure data, and discuss methodology and comparability between studies. We identified nine studies of nuclear worker cohorts in France, Russia, the USA and the UK that had incorporated JEMs in their exposure assessments. All these JEMs were study or cohort-specific, and although broadly comparable methodologies were used in their construction, this is insufficient to enable the transfer of any one JEM to another study. Moreover there was often inadequate detail on whether, or how, JEMs were validated. JEMs have become more detailed and more quantitative, and this trend may eventually enable better comparison across, and the pooling of, studies. We conclude that JEMs have been shown to be a valuable exposure assessment methodology for imputation of missing exposure data for nuclear worker cohorts with data not missing at random. The next step forward for direct comparison or pooled analysis of complete cohorts would be the use of transparent and transferable methods.

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“…Body tissues collected at autopsies have also been used to assess exposures within some populations (e.g. [21,30,31]).…”

Section: R4mentioning

confidence: 99%

A review of job-exposure matrix methodology for application to workers exposed to radiation from internally deposited plutonium or other radioactive materials

et al. 2016

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Plutonium Particle Toxicity Myth

Sanders¹

2017

Radiobiology and Radiation Hormesis

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A Monte Carlo t Test to Evaluate Mesothelioma and Radiation in the US Transuranium and Uranium Registries

Zhou¹,

McComish

Tolmachev

2019

Health Physics

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A cluster of nine mesothelioma cases was observed among 341 registrants’ deaths in the US Transuranium and Uranium Registries. Descriptive analysis showed that mesothelioma cases had the highest average cumulative external radiation dose compared with lung cancer, other cancer, and noncancer deaths. Further analysis indicated that the mesothelioma cluster was very different demographically from lung cancer, other cancer, and noncancer deaths. Therefore, an internally matched case-control approach was applied to evaluate the differences in an average cumulative external radiation dose between mesothelioma deaths and other causes of death. A Monte Carlo t test was used to examine the statistical significance of the differences. The results showed that there were no significant statistical differences in an average cumulative external radiation dose between mesothelioma and lung cancer, other cancers, or noncancers for the internally matched cases and controls.

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Cancer Deaths and Occupational Exposure in a Group of Plutonium Workers

Cited by 3 publications

References 28 publications

A review of job-exposure matrix methodology for application to workers exposed to radiation from internally deposited plutonium or other radioactive materials

A review of job-exposure matrix methodology for application to workers exposed to radiation from internally deposited plutonium or other radioactive materials

Plutonium Particle Toxicity Myth

A Monte Carlo t Test to Evaluate Mesothelioma and Radiation in the US Transuranium and Uranium Registries

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