Incidence of leukaemia and other cancers in birth and schools cohorts in the Dounreay area.

Abstract

Objective-To determine whether a raised incidence of leukaemia in the Dounreay area occurred in children born to local mothers (birth cohort) or in those who moved to the area after birth (schools cohort) and also whether any cases of cancer have occurred in children born near Dounreay who may have moved elsewhere.Design-Foliow up study. Setting-Dounreay area of Caithness, Scotland. Subjects-4144 children born in the area in the period 1969-88 and 1641 children who attended local schools in the same period but who had been born elsewhere.Main outcome measures-Cancer registration records linked to birth and schools records with computerised probability matching methods.Results-Five cancer registrations were traced from the birth cohort compared with 5 8 expected on the basis of national rates (observed to expected ratio 09, 95% confidence interval 0-3 to 2.0). Ali five cases were of leukaemia (2.3, 0*7 to 5.4). In the schools cohort three cases were found (2.1, 0-4 to 6.2), all of which were of leukaemia (6-7, 1-4 to 19.5). All eight children were resident in the Dounreay area at the time of diagnosis; thus no cases were found in children who were born in or had attended school in the study area but who subsequently moved away.Conclusion -The raised incidence of leukaemia in both the birth and schools cohorts suggests that place of birth is not a more important factor than place of residence in the series of cases of leukaemia observed near Dounreay area.

Updated investigations of cancer excesses in individuals born or resident in the vicinity of Sellafield and Dounreay

“…The results of our cross-sectional analyses indicate that no excesses of childhood and young adult cancer around Sellafield and Dounreay are evident when more recent data covering the period from 1991 to 2006 are considered. Our findings for the earlier time periods (1963–1990) are consistent with earlier published findings ( Black et al , 1992 ; Draper et al , 1993 ).…”

“…The increased follow-up now available allows investigation of whether the excess cancer risks continue beyond the ages considered by Gardner. Although a similar birth cohort study found no significantly raised risk for children born around the Dounreay site ( Black et al , 1992 ), further investigation of cancer risk beyond age 20 for these individuals is also warranted for comparison.…”

Incidence of childhood brain and other non-haematopoietic neoplasms near nuclear sites in Scotland, 1975-94.

“…The overall deficit of cancers other than leukaemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is consistent with previous investigations in the Dounreay area. 23 Fourteen cases of cancers other than tumours of the CNS were found in children resident near to Chapelcross compared with 9.25 expected. The MLR test did not reach significance (p=0.073).…”

Thyroid cancer incidence around the Belgian nuclear sites: Surrogate exposure modelling

“…For each year, population counts stratified by commune, 5-year age groups and sex were obtained for January 1st. In 2008, Belgium had a population of 10,666,866 inhabitants, divided over the Flemish (6,161,600), Walloon (3,456,775) and Brussels-Capital Region (1,048,491). The smallest administrative level at which age-and sexspecific data are available at the moment in Belgium are the communes.…”