Quantitative evaluation of the radon and lung cancer association in a case control study of Chinese tin miners

Journal Article · Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1990 · Cancer Research; (USA)

OSTI ID:5016928

Lubin, J H; Qiao, Y L; Taylor, P R; Yao, S X; Schatzkin, A; Mao, B L; Rao, J Y; Xuan, X Z; Li, J Y ^[1]

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1. National Cancer Institute, Rockville, MD (USA)

Studies of underground miners have consistently shown an increased risk of lung cancer with cumulative exposure to radon-222 and its decay products. Although the deleterious effects of high radon exposure are clear, questions regarding the shape of the exposure-response relationship, and the effects of time factors such as attained age, time since exposure and early age at first exposure, the effect of exposure rate, and the joint association of radon exposure and tobacco use have not yet been fully clarified. This report considers these questions by fitting various models for the relative odds of disease to 74 male lung cancer cases who were diagnosed between 1981 and 1984 and were alive in 1985 and an equal number of controls. All subjects are current or past employees of the Yunnan Tin Corporation, Gejiu City, China, who reside in the local area. Workers were interviewed to obtain information on work history, from which radon exposure in cumulative working level months and arsenic exposure were estimated, and on tobacco use. Results indicate that excess relative risk increases by 1.7% per cumulative working level month (95% confidence interval (0.5, 5.4)). The linear exposure response relationship significantly declines with year since last radon exposure (P = 0.02). The risk trend also declines with increasing exposure rate (P = 0.001), indicating that long duration of exposure at a low rate may be more deleterious than short duration of exposure at a high rate. A unique aspect of this study population is the very early ages at first radon exposure for many of the workers, about 37% of the radon-exposed workers were first exposed under the age of 13 years. The analysis shows no modification of the radon lung cancer relationship with age at first exposure.

• OSTI ID: 5016928
• Journal Information: Cancer Research; (USA), Vol. 50:1; ISSN 0008-5472
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ARSENIC
CARCINOGENESIS
LUNGS
NEOPLASMS
RADIOINDUCTION
RADON 222
CHINA
DAUGHTER PRODUCTS
MINERS
MINING
RISK ASSESSMENT
TIN
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
ASIA
BODY
DAYS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
DISEASES
ELEMENTS
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
HEAVY NUCLEI
ISOTOPES
METALS
NUCLEI
ORGANS
PATHOGENESIS
PERSONNEL
RADIOISOTOPES
RADON ISOTOPES
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
SEMIMETALS
560161* - Radionuclide Effects
Kinetics
& Toxicology- Man
560300 - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology