Radon and cancer mortality among underground uranium miners in the Příbram region of the Czech Republic

Abstract

Background This study aims to estimate the association between radon and site‐specific cancer mortality among a large contemporary cohort of male uranium miners. Methods Annual occupational radon exposure was estimated based on a worker's duration of underground mining in a year and estimates of potential alpha energy of radon progeny in their location of work. Cancer mortality over the period 1977‐1992 was ascertained for a cohort of 16 434 male underground uranium miners employed in the Czech Republic between 1946 and 1992. Poisson regression was used to estimate relationships between cumulative radiation exposure (in working level months [WLM]) and site‐specific cancer mortality. Results Radon is positively associated with lung cancer mortality (excess relative rate [ERR] per 100 WLM = 0.2; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.10, 0.37). The best fit of the dose‐response relationship between radon and lung cancer mortality was linear and estimates of radon‐lung cancer associations varied by windows of time‐since‐exposure. Positive associations between radon and several types of cancer other than lung cancer were identified, notably chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) (ERR/100 WLM = 0.24; 95% CI: [not determined [ND], 5.10]) and extrathoracic cancer (ERR/100 WLM = 0.12; 95% CI: [ND, 0.69]). We observed no associations between radon and stomach cancer, nor between radon and several hematopoietic cancer subtypes. Conclusions This study confirms the established radon‐lung cancer association and suggests that radon may also be associated with other types of cancer mortality. Further investigations of extrathoracic and CLL cancer, with the aim of obtaining more precise estimates, are warranted to understand associations between radon and cancers other than lung.

Radon and lung cancer in the pooled uranium miners analysis (PUMA): highly exposed early miners and all miners

“…Neither occupational coexposures nor smoking were assessed in this analysis. Known occupational coexposures from uranium mining such as silica, arsenic, gamma radiation, long-lived radionuclides and diesel exhaust could influence rates of lung cancer 1 30. Other analyses have indicated that the influence of occupational coexposures on the radon–lung cancer risk is minimal.…”

Ionising radiation as a risk factor for lymphoma: a review

“…Most studies of occupational exposures have focussed on individuals working in the nuclear industry (including uranium workers [47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62] and Chernobyl clean-up workers [7,63,64]), nuclear weapons testing programs [65][66][67][68][69][70][71], medical imaging [56,[72][73][74][75][76][77][78] or those working as airline crew [79][80][81][82][83][84]. Radiation exposures are typically fairly uniform, though highly protracted.…”

“…The leukaemia SMR was reduced from 1.93 to 1.28 after excluding CLL. Studies of uranium miners and mill workers [47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62], exposed to both low LET gamma and high LET alpha radiation, are similarly inconclusive. As with other industry nuclear workers, overall cancer rates tend not to be raised relative to the general population, although there are exceptions [52].…”

Relationships among Indoor Radon, Earthquake Magnitude Data and Lung Cancer Risks in a Residential Building of an Apulian Town (Southern Italy)

“…In 2012, 17% of lung cancer cases in Alberta were found to be attributable to residential radon exposure [27]. Occupational exposure to high concentrations of radon has also been demonstrated to increase the risk of lung cancer in non-smokers [28], and the effects of occupational exposure to radon have also been described in the mining industry [29][30][31][32][33][34][35].and in other workplaces [36].…”