Lung cancer among Navajo uranium miners
Lung cancer has been a rare disease among the Indians of the southwestern United States. However, the advent of uranium mining in the area has been associated with an increased incidence of lung cancer among Navajo uranium miners. This study centers on Navajo men with lung cancer who were admitted to the hospital from February 1965 to May 1979. Of a total of 17 patients with lung cancer, 16 were uranium miners, and one was a nonminer. The mean value of cumulative radon exposure for this group was 1139.5 working level months (WLMs). The predominant cancer type was the small cell undifferentiated category (62.5 percent). The low frequency of cigarette smoking in this group supports the view that radiation is the primary cause of lung cancer among uranium miners and that cigarette smoking acts as a promoting agent.
- Research Organization:
- Shiprock Indian Health Service Hospital and the Navajo Family Health Center, Shiprock, NM
- OSTI ID:
- 6778641
- Journal Information:
- Chest; (United States), Vol. 81:4
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
AMERICAN INDIANS
EPIDEMIOLOGY
CARCINOMAS
HEALTH HAZARDS
LUNGS
MINERS
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY
PATIENTS
PUBLIC HEALTH
RADIATION DOSES
RADON
REGIONAL ANALYSIS
STATISTICS
TOBACCO SMOKES
URANIUM ORES
AEROSOLS
BODY
COLLOIDS
DISEASES
DISPERSIONS
DOSES
ELEMENTS
FLUIDS
GASES
HAZARDS
HUMAN POPULATIONS
MATHEMATICS
MINORITY GROUPS
NEOPLASMS
NONMETALS
ORES
ORGANS
PERSONNEL
POPULATIONS
RARE GASES
RESIDUES
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
SAFETY
SMOKES
SOLS
552000* - Public Health
530100 - Environmental-Social Aspects of Energy Technologies- Social & Economic Studies- (-1989)