Cancer in the offspring of radiation workers: an investigation of employment timing and a reanalysis using updated dose information

• Published in: British journal of cancer Vol. 89; no. 7; pp. 1215 - 1220
• Main Authors: SORAHAN, T, HAYLOCK, R. G. E, MUIRHEAD, C. R, BUNCH, K. J, KINLEN, L. J, LITTLE, M. P, DRAPER, G. J, KENDALL, G. M, LANCASHIRE, R. J, ENGLISH, M. A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basingstoke Nature Publishing Group 06-10-2003
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Case-Control Studies; Child; Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; Employment; Epidemiology; Female; Hematologic and hematopoietic diseases; Humans; Leukemia, Radiation-Induced - etiology; Leukemias. Malignant lymphomas. Malignant reticulosis. Myelofibrosis; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin - etiology; Male; Medical sciences; Multiple tumors. Solid tumors. Tumors in childhood (general aspects); Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced - etiology; non-Hodgkin's lymphoma; Nuclear Reactors; Occupational Exposure; offspring; Paternal Exposure; Radiometry; Time Factors; Tumors; United Kingdom; Europe; Human; Parent; Leukemia; occupational exposures; Malignant hemopathy; Malignant tumor; Occupational exposure; Non Hodgkin lymphoma; Ionizing radiation; Employment; radiation; Lymphoproliferative syndrome; childhood cancer; Dosimetry; Timing; Child; Occupational medicine; Public health
• ISSN: 0007-0920; 1532-1827
• DOI: 10.1038/sj.bjc.6601273

An earlier case-control study found no evidence of paternal preconceptional irradiation (PPI) as a cause of childhood leukaemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (LNHL). Although fathers of children with LNHL were more likely to have been radiation workers, the risk was most marked in those with doses below the level of detection. The timing of paternal employment as a radiation worker has now been examined. The previously reported elevated risk of LNHL in the children of male radiation workers was limited to those whose fathers were still radiation workers at conception or whose employment also continued until diagnosis. Children whose fathers stopped radiation work prior to their conception were found to have no excess risk of LNHL. It was not possible to distinguish between the risks associated with paternal radiation work at conception and at the time of diagnosis. A reanalysis of the original study hypothesis incorporating updated dosimetric information gave similar results to those obtained previously. In particular, the risks of LNHL did not show an association with radiation doses received by the father before conception. It seems likely that the increased risk of LNHL among the children of male radiation workers is associated with an increased exposure to some infective agent consequent on high levels of population mixing.