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

Vimercati, Luigi; Cavone, Domenica; Delfino, Maria Celeste; Maria, Luigi De; Caputi, Antonio; Sponselli, Stefania; Corrado, Vincenzo; Bruno, Vito; Spalluto, Gianfranco; Eranio, Giorgia; Ferri, Giovanni Maria

doi:10.3390/atmos12101342

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 78 publications

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“…On average, the results found in this study are close to the values measured by Deiana et al [23] and by Vimercati et al [24] in their studies conducted in indoor hospital environments in Italy, for environments that are complying with established international standards. Also, it could be observed that the results obtained here are between 4 and 10 times lower than the values obtained by Vimercati et al [25] in their study that correlates lung cancer rates by exposure to radon gas in residential environments susceptible to seismic activities, also in Italy. This is indicative that in outdoor workplaces, radon can be considered a low risk to employees' health.…”

Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 77%

New Evaluation Method of Exposure to Radon Gas in Mining Environments

et al. 2023

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Physical and chemical agents in workplace environments can be hazardous for employees. Much of the exposure to ionizing radiation can occur due to the presence of radon in the workplace. Mining environments are more susceptible to containing radon gas because it emanates from soil or rocks. Radon is known to be associated with lung cancer as it is a gaseous chemical agent under normal conditions and is also radioactive. Since there is little knowledge about radon in Brazilian mining workplaces, this study aims to measure occupational exposure to radon in mining environments through a proposed methodology and to verify its compliance with international standards to confirm the potential risk of exposure for employees. Radon concentration in open-pit mining work environments was measured and used as a basis for comparison to assess the proposed new evaluation method, which will consist of laboratory evaluations of samples taken from the same workplaces. The radon concentration data in the work environments were compared to laboratory tests for statistical correlation. The results, compared to reference values, tolerance limits, and action levels, showed that radon, in outdoor mining workplaces, can be considered a low risk to employees’ health. The application of the methodology also indicated that the laboratory tests and the field evaluations presented a statistical correlation with each other, being an indication that the laboratory tests can be used to estimate the risks in a preliminary way. Another important point is the fact that it was observed that measurements in the laboratory were more practical and faster to perform when compared to field evaluations. These facts can bring future gains in the number of tests performed and workplace evaluated in mining environments.

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Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 77%

New Evaluation Method of Exposure to Radon Gas in Mining Environments

et al. 2023

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“…Therefore, the radon levels in the Apulia Region can be considered to be in the medium range. Other studies in the region investigated the correlation between an increased incidence of lung cancer and chronic exposure to radon [ 34 , 35 , 36 ]. The results of these studies confirm that indoor radon pollution is a significant concern throughout the whole region and is one of the primary causes of lung cancer.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Indoor Radon Concentration Levels in Healthcare Settings: The Results of an Environmental Monitoring in a Large Italian University Hospital

Maria

Sponselli

Caputi

et al. 2023

IJERPH

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The aim of the study is to determine the radon concentrations in the University Hospital of Bari, Apulia Region, Southern Italy. The monitoring took place from 2017 to 2018 for a total of 402 days and included 3492 premises. Radon environmental sampling was performed with passive dosimeters of the CR-39 type. The highest mean concentration was found in basement rooms (118.9 Bq/m3), followed by ground-floor rooms (88.2 Bq/m3), first-floor rooms (78.1 Bq/m3), second-floor rooms (66.7 Bq/m3), and third-floor rooms (68.9 Bq/m3). An average radon concentration lower than the WHO recommended level of 100 Bq/m3 was detected in 73.5% of monitored environments, while only 0.9% exceeded the reference level of 300 Bq/m3 set by the national law (Legislative Decree 101/2020). The frequency of environments in which radon concentrations exceed 300 Bq/m3 is significantly higher in the basement (p-value < 0.001). As for a previous preliminary investigation in the same hospital conducted on a much smaller number of premises (n = 401), most of the monitored environments had radon concentrations lower than the reference levels set by the new national law, and the risk to the healthcare workers’ health derived from occupational exposure to radon could be considered acceptable.

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“…The published articles are intended to provide guidance and solutions for correctly measuring and evaluating radon in different environments and the efficient management of radon levels in affected buildings for radiation protection of the population. An attempt has been made to classify the contributions below [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]:  Three papers aim to define radon awareness and policy perspectives, to set-up radon specific norms to control of the health risk of radon exposure in the Republic of Moldova and to better define measurement procedures, approaches and standard guidelines for Romanian Schools.…”

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confidence: 99%