Multiple myeloma, leukemia, and breast cancer among the US radium dial workers

Conference · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1983

OSTI ID:6161645

Stebbings, J H; Lucas, H F; Stehney, A F

The relationships of radium exposure to mortality from multiple myeloma, leukemia, and breast cancer were studied in three cohorts of female dial workers defined by year of first employment. Mortality was compared with that expected from US white female rates, with and without adjustment for local mortality rates. Dose-response relationships of these cancers to systemic intake of radium were determined in workers whose body burdens had been measured in vivo since 1955. Incident cases of multiple myeloma occurred in the pre-1930 cohort; however, analyses of body burdens and durations of employment suggest that external radiation was more likely to have been responsible than was internal radium. Leukemia incidence and mortality have not been elevated overall among the female dial workers, either in the pre-1930 or the post-1930 cohorts, but cases have tended to occur early and in subjects with higher body burdens. Extensive analyses of breast cancer data have uncovered several observations weighing against a causal interpretation of the association between radium and breast cancer.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 6161645
• Report Number(s): CONF-830101-6; ON: DE83009523
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

560161* -- Radionuclide Effects
Kinetics
& Toxicology-- Man
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ALKALINE EARTH METALS
BODY
CHRONIC EXPOSURE
DIAL PAINTERS
DISEASES
DOSE-RESPONSE RELATIONSHIPS
ELEMENTS
GLANDS
HEMIC DISEASES
LEUKEMIA
MAMMARY GLANDS
METALS
MORTALITY
NEOPLASMS
ORGANS
PERSONNEL
RADIOINDUCTION
RADIUM