Moon, Mars and Minds: Evaluating Parkinson’s disease mortality among U.S. radiation workers and veterans in the million person study of low-dose effects

Journal Article · Tue Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 2023 · Zeitschrift fuer Medizinische Physik

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.zemedi.2023.07.002· OSTI ID:2471980

Dauer, Lawrence T. ^[1]; Walsh, Linda ^[2]; Mumma, Michael T. ^[3]; Cohen, Sarah S. ^[4]; Golden, Ashley P. ^[5]; Howard, Sara C. ^[5]; Roemer, Grace E. ^[6]; Boice, John D. ^[7]

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1. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY (United States). Sloan Kettering Institute; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY (United States)
2. Univ. of Zurich (Switzerland)
3. Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s International Epidemiology Field Station, Rockville, MD (United States)
4. DLH Corporation, Durham, NC (United States)
5. Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
6. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY (United States). Sloan Kettering Institute
7. National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, Bethesda, MD (United States); Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States). School of Medicine

Background: Radiation is one of the most important stressors related to missions in space beyond Earth’s orbit. Epidemiologic studies of exposed workers have reported elevated rates of Parkinson’s disease. The importance of cognitive dysfunction related to low-dose rate radiation in humans is not defined. A meta-analysis was conducted of six cohorts in the Million Person Study (MPS) of low-dose health effects to learn whether there is consistent evidence that Parkinson’s disease is associated with radiation dose to brain. Materials and methods: The MPS evaluates all causes of death among U.S. radiation workers and veterans, including Parkinson’s disease. Systematic and consistent methods are applied to study all categories of workers including medical radiation workers, industrial radiographers, nuclear power plant workers, atomic veterans, and Manhattan Projects workers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and at Rocky Flats. Consistent methods for all cohorts are used to estimate organ-specific doses and to obtain vital status and cause of death. Results: The meta-analysis include 6 cohorts within the MPS, consisting of 517,608 workers and 17,219,001 person-years of observation. The mean dose to brain ranged from 6.9 to 47.6 mGy and the maximum dose from 0.76 to 2.7 Gy. Five of the 6 cohorts revealed positive associations with Parkinson’s disease. The overall summary estimate from the meta-analysis was statistically significant based on 1573 deaths due to Parkinson’s disease. The summary excess relative risk at 100 mGy was 0.17 (95% CI: 0.05; 0.29). Conclusions: Parkinson’s disease was positively associated with radiation in the MPS cohorts indicating the need for careful evaluation as to causality in other studies, delineation of possible mechanisms, and assessing possible implications for space travel as well as radiation protection guidance for terrestrial workers.

• Research Organization: National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, Inc., Bethesda, MD (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); National Institutes of Health (NIH); USDOE Office of Environment, Health, Safety and Security (AU); USNRC
• Grant/Contract Number: AU0000042; AU0000046; SC0008944
• OSTI ID: 2471980
• Journal Information: Zeitschrift fuer Medizinische Physik, Journal Name: Zeitschrift fuer Medizinische Physik Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 34; ISSN 0939-3889
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
Million Person Study
Parkinson’s disease
Radiation epidemiology