Occupational exposure to ionising radiation and mortality among workers of the former Spanish Nuclear Energy Board

OBJECTIVES: Firstly, to ascertain whether mortality among workers of the former Spanish Nuclear Energy Board (Junta de Energía Nuclear-JEN) was higher than that for the Spanish population overall; and secondly, if this were so, to ascertain whether this difference was associated with exposure to ion...

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Published in:	Occupational and environmental medicine (London, England) Vol. 54; no. 3; pp. 202 - 208
Main Authors:	Rodríguez Artalejo, F, Castaño Lara, S, de Andrés Manzano, B, García Ferruelo, M, Iglesias Martín, L, Calero, J R
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	London BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 01-03-1997 BMJ Publishing Group BMJ BMJ Publishing Group LTD
Subjects:	Biological and medical sciences Biological effects of radiation Bone Neoplasms - mortality Case-Control Studies Cause of Death Causes of death Cohort Studies Death Dosage Dose response relationship Dosimetry Female Film Dosimetry Follow-Up Studies Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology Humans Ionizing radiation Ionizing radiations Lung cancer Lung neoplasms Lung Neoplasms - mortality Male Mining Mortality Neoplasia Neoplasms - mortality Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced - mortality Nuclear energy Occupational exposure Occupational Exposure - adverse effects Occupational Exposure - analysis Odds Ratio Radiation Dosage Radiation, Ionizing Respiratory diseases Retrospective Studies Spain - epidemiology Tissues, organs and organisms biophysics Europe Spain Human Lung disease Nuclear industry Respiratory disease Toxicity Mortality Malignant tumor Occupational exposure Epidemiology Bronchopulmonary Retrospective Ionizing irradiation Ionizing radiation Cohort study Bronchus disease Occupational medicine
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Summary:	OBJECTIVES: Firstly, to ascertain whether mortality among workers of the former Spanish Nuclear Energy Board (Junta de Energía Nuclear-JEN) was higher than that for the Spanish population overall; and secondly, if this were so, to ascertain whether this difference was associated with exposure to ionising radiation. METHODS: A retrospective follow up of a cohort of 5657 workers was carried out for the period 1954-92. Cohort mortality was compared with that for the Spanish population overall, with standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) adjusted for sex, age, and calendar period. Also, Poisson models were used to analyse mortality from lung cancer in the cohort by level of exposure to ionising radiation. RESULTS: Workers' median and mean cumulative exposures were 4.04 and 11.42 mSv, respectively. Mean annual exposure was 1.33 mSv. Excess mortality due to bone tumours was found for the cohort as a whole (six deaths observed; SMR 2.95; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.08 to 6.43). Among miners, excess mortality was found for non-malignant respiratory diseases (SMR 2.94; 95% CI 2.27 to 3.75), and for lung cancer bordering on statistical significance (SMR 1.50; 95% CI 0.96 to 2.23; P = 0.055). Relative risks of dying of lung cancer from ionising radiation in the dose quartiles 2, 3, and 4 versus the lowest dose quartile, were 1.00, 1.64, and 0.94, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Excess mortality from lung cancer was found among JEN miners. Nevertheless, no clear relation was found between mortality from lung cancer and level of exposure to ionising radiation in the JEN cohort. Continued follow up of the cohort is required to confirm excess mortality from bone tumours.
Bibliography:	href:oemed-54-202.pdf istex:EF2159C337D3A596DBD9FB9D4B0697F89A717B38 PMID:9155782 local:oemed;54/3/202 ark:/67375/NVC-4STXNDCN-Q ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2
ISSN:	1351-0711 1470-7926
DOI:	10.1136/oem.54.3.202