Mortality among workers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Evidence of radiation effects in follow-up through 1984
- Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (USA)
White men hired at the Oak Ridge (Tenn) National Laboratory between 1943 and 1972 were followed up for vital status through 1984 (N = 8318, 1524 deaths). Relatively low mortality compared with that in US white men was observed for most causes of death, but leukemia mortality was elevated in the total cohort (63% higher, 28 deaths) and in workers who had at some time been monitored for internal radionuclide contamination (123% higher, 16 deaths). Median cumulative dose of external penetrating radiation was 1.4 mSv; 638 workers had cumulative doses above 50 mSv (5 rem). After accounting for age, birth cohort, a measure of socioeconomic status, and active worker status, external radiation with a 20-year exposure lag was related to all causes of death (2.68% increase per 10 mSv) primarily due to an association with cancer mortality (4.94% per 10 mSv). Studies of this population through 1977 did not find radiation-cancer mortality associations, and identical analyses using the shorter follow-up showed that associations with radiation did not appear until after 1977. The radiation-cancer dose response is 10 times higher than estimates from the follow-up of survivors of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, but similar to one previous occupational study. Dose-response estimates are subject to uncertainties due to potential problems, including measurement of radiation doses and cancer outcomes. Longer-term follow-up of this and other populations with good measurement of protracted low-level exposures will be critical to evaluating the generalizability of the results reported herein.
- OSTI ID:
- 5952446
- Journal Information:
- JAMA, Journal of the American Medical Association; (USA), Journal Name: JAMA, Journal of the American Medical Association; (USA) Vol. 265:11; ISSN 0098-7484; ISSN JAMAA
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Mortality among men employed between 1943 and 1947 at a uranium-processing plant
Effects of low doses and low dose rates of external ionizing radiation: Cancer mortality among nuclear industry workers in three countries
Related Subjects
560161 -- Radionuclide Effects
Kinetics
& Toxicology-- Man
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
BIOLOGICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
DISEASES
DOSE-RESPONSE RELATIONSHIPS
DOSES
FEDERAL REGION IV
HAZARDS
HEALTH HAZARDS
HEMIC DISEASES
IMMUNE SYSTEM DISEASES
INJURIES
LEUKEMIA
MORTALITY
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NEOPLASMS
NORTH AMERICA
OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE
ORNL
PERSONNEL
RADIATION DOSES
RADIATION EFFECTS
RADIATION HAZARDS
RADIATION INJURIES
RADIOINDUCTION
TENNESSEE
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
USA