Thyroid cancer risk in Belarus among children and adolescents exposed to radioiodine after the Chornobyl accident

Journal Article · Tue Nov 23 00:00:00 EST 2010 · British Journal of Cancer

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bjc.6605967· OSTI ID:1904021

Zablotska, L. B. ^[1]; Ron, E. ^[2]; Rozhko, A. V. ^[3]; Hatch, M. ^[2]; Polyanskaya, O. N. ^[3]; Brenner, A. V. ^[2]; Lubin, J. ^[2]; Romanov, G. N. ^[3]; McConnell, R. J. ^[4]; O'Kane, P. ^[5]; Evseenko, V. V. ^[3]; Drozdovitch, V. V. ^[2]; Luckyanov, N. ^[2]; Minenko, V. F. ^[6]; Bouville, A. ^[2]; Masyakin, V. B. ^[3]

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1. University of California, San Francisco, CA (United States); OSTI
2. National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD (United States)
3. Republican Research Center for Radiation Medicine and Human Ecology, Gomel (Belarus)
4. Columbia University, New York, NY (United States)
5. Thomas Jefferson Univesity Hospital, Philadelphia, PA (United States)
6. Belarusian Medical Academy of Post-Graduate Education, Minsk (Belarus)

Previous studies showed an increased risk of thyroid cancer among children and adolescents exposed to radioactive iodines released after the Chornobyl (Chernobyl) accident, but the effects of screening, iodine deficiency, age at exposure and other factors on the dose – response are poorly understood. We screened 11 970 individuals in Belarus aged 18 years or younger at the time of the accident who had estimated 131I thyroid doses based on individual thyroid activity measurements and dosimetric data from questionnaires. The excess odds ratio per gray (EOR/Gy) was modelled using linear and linear –exponential functions. For thyroid doses o5 Gy, the dose – response was linear (n = 85; EOR/Gy = 2.15, 95% confidence interval: 0.81 – 5.47), but at higher doses the excess risk fell. The EOR/Gy was significantly increased among those with prior or screening-detected diffuse goiter, and larger for men than women, and for persons exposed before age 5 than those exposed between 5 and 18 years, although not statistically significant. A somewhat higher EOR/Gy was estimated for validated pre-screening cases. 10 – 15 years after the Chornobyl accident, thyroid cancer risk was significantly increased among individuals exposed to fallout as children or adolescents, but the risk appeared to be lower than in other Chornobyl studies and studies of childhood external irradiation.

• Research Organization: University of California, San Francisco, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: National Cancer Institute (NCI); Nuclear Regulatory Commission; US Department of Health and Human Services; USDOE
• OSTI ID: 1904021
• Journal Information: British Journal of Cancer, Journal Name: British Journal of Cancer Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 104; ISSN 0007-0920
• Publisher: Springer
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES
Chernobyl nuclear accident
iodine deficiency
iodine radioisotopes
risk
thyroid neoplasms