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

Journal Article · Mon Jan 01 04:00:00 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), Journal Name: Cancer Research; (USA) Vol. 50:1; ISSN 0008-5472; ISSN CNREA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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