Monday, April 21, 2008

CASE-CONTROL STUDY OF LUNG CANCER RISK FROM RESIDENTIAL RADON EXPOSURE IN WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Paper Health Physics. The Radiation Safety Journal. 94(3):228-241, March 2008.Thompson, Richard E. *; Nelson, Donald F. +; Popkin, Joel H. ++; Popkin, Zenaida ++
Abstract: mdash;: A study of lung cancer risk from residential radon exposure and its radioactive progeny was performed with 200 cases (58% male, 42% female) and 397 controls matched on age and sex, all from the same health maintenance organization. Emphasis was placed on accurate and extensive year-long dosimetry with etch-track detectors in conjunction with careful questioning about historic patterns of in-home mobility. Conditional logistic regression was used to model the outcome of cancer on radon exposure, while controlling for years of residency, smoking, education, income, and years of job exposure to known or potential carcinogens. Smoking was accounted for by nine categories: never smokers, four categories of current smokers, and four categories of former smokers. Radon exposure was divided into six categories (model 1) with break points at 25, 50, 75, 150, and 250 Bq m-3, the lowest being the reference. Surprisingly, the adjusted odds ratios (AORs) were, in order, 1.00, 0.53, 0.31, 0.47, 0.22, and 2.50 with the third category significantly below 1.0 (p < aor =" 0.30" p =" 0.005">

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