Exposure to unusually high indoor radon levels

Journal Article · Sat Mar 27 00:00:00 EST 1993 · Lancet; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0140-6736(93)90602-D· OSTI ID:6209312

Rasheed, F N ^[1]

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1. International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Dhaka (Bangladesh)

Unusually high indoor radon concentrations were reported in a small village in western Tyrol, Austria. The authors have measured the seasonal course of indoor radon concentrations in 390 houses of this village. 71% of houses in winter and 33% in summer, showed radon values on the ground floor above the Austrian action level of 400 Bq/cm[sup 3]. This proportion results in an unusually high indoor radon exposure of the population. The radon source was an 8,700-year-old rock slide of granite gneiss, the largest of the alpine crystalline rocks. It has a strong emanating power because its rocks are heavily fractured and show a slightly increased uranium content. Previous reports show increased lung cancer mortality, myeloid leukemia, kidney cancer, melanoma, and prostate cancer resulting from indoor radon exposure. However, many studies fail to provide accurate information on indoor radon concentrations, classifying them merely as low, intermediate, and high, or they record only minor increases in indoor radon concentrations. Mortality data for 1970-91 were used to calculate age and sex standardized mortality rates (SMR) for 51 sites of carcinoma. The total population of Tyrol were controls. A significantly higher risk was recorded for lung cancer. The high SMR for lung cancer in female subjects is especially striking. Because the numbers were low for the other cancer sites, these were combined in one group to calculate the SMR. No significant increase in SMR was found for this group.

• OSTI ID: 6209312
• Journal Information: Lancet; (United States), Vol. 341:8848; ISSN 0099-5355
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
AUSTRIA
INDOOR AIR POLLUTION
CARCINOMAS
RADIOINDUCTION
RADON
CARCINOGENESIS
RADIOECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
AGE DEPENDENCE
MORTALITY
RADIATION HAZARDS
RADIATION MONITORING
SEASONAL VARIATIONS
SEX DEPENDENCE
AIR POLLUTION
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
DISEASES
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
ELEMENTS
EUROPE
FLUIDS
GASES
HAZARDS
HEALTH HAZARDS
MONITORING
NEOPLASMS
NONMETALS
PATHOGENESIS
POLLUTION
RARE GASES
VARIATIONS
WESTERN EUROPE
540130* - Environment
Atmospheric- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)
560161 - Radionuclide Effects
Kinetics
& Toxicology- Man