Epidemiology in Military and Veteran Populations Proceedings of the Second Biennial Conference, March 7, 1990 (1991) / Chapter Skim
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Radiation Risk Studies in Military Populations
Radiation Risk Studies in Military Populations
Pages 81-96
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From page 81... ...
The information is necessary in order to set "safe" limits on exposure for persons who are exposed occupationally; so that populations involved in an event like the accident at the Three Mile Island generating plant can be informed, warned, or reassured, depending on the exact circumstances; and to enable physicians to balance risk versus benefit when considering the advisability of a radiological examination such as mammography as a screening procedure for early breast cancer. We need to know what are the kinds Seymour Jablon is with the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MaIyland.
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From page 82... ...
To obtain more and better data concerning these points we need large-scale studies in which there is good quantitative data concerning the magnitude of individual exposures. Studies of the kind just described can be characterized as "scientific studies." The second class of studies, for lack of a better term, can be called "population studies." Such studies as those of persons who lived near Three Mile Island; of residents of southwest Utah in the 1950's, at the time of above-ground testing of nuclear weapons at the Nevada Test Site; or of veterans who, while in service, were present at nuclear weapons tests belong to this class.
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From page 83... ...
That is, the population's cancer mortality would be increased by about 5 percent from the 20,000 cancer deaths that can be expected in an unselected population, and to observe the excess, the population would have to be followed for 60 years or more. Given that few veterans who were present at nuclear weapons tests had exposures approaching 10 rem, it seems clear that science would have little to gain from a study of those veterans.
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From page 84... ...
This is an enormous advantage, compared with the difficulty of tracing ordinary civilian rosters, which usually involve long, arduous, and expensive procedures that are not completely successful. Studies of veterans that have been done usually have been of weapons test participants, but one study of veterans who had occupational exposures has been reported.
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From page 85... ...
Table 2 displays the data concerning sex ratio of children. Six to 8 percent of the men on each roster reported having x-ray therapy, usually for such conditions as acne or bursitis, and strangely, among the technologists who reported such therapy, but not among the corresponding controls, the sex ratio of the offspring was significantly reduced.
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From page 86... ...
, there were no remarkable findings except for leukemia where, as had been previously observed, the number of deaths was significantly high. In view of the reports from CDC it seemed important to review the experience of participants at other weapons tests, both of fission devices at the Nevada Test Site and of thermonuclear weapons at the Pacific Proving Ground.
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From page 87... ...
o The federal government undertakes to be responsible for injury to veterans that has its cause in experiences while in military service. Since there is no general consensus regarding the cancer risks that may follow relatively low doses (under 5 reds)
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From page 88... ...
Obs Exp. Deaths from trauma 66 63.9 10 15.3 53 49.8 Suicide 18 16.2 2 4.1 12 11.7 Homicide 3 3.8 1 0.8 4 3.4 Other 45 ...
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From page 89... ...
RADIATION RISK STUDIES TABLE 2 SEX RATIO IN OFFSPRING BORN IN 1946 OR LATER Number Proportion Category of of Children Male Births Men who reported radiotherapy X-ray technologists 539 0.4712* Pharmacy technologists 78 0.5641 Medical lab technologists 423 0.5130 Men who did not report radio therapy X-ray technologists 6,539 0.5178 Pharmacy technologists 1,510 0.5211 Medical lab technologists 6,033 0.5173 TOTAL 15.168 $ Difference between this ratio and the total ratio significant at the 5% level, two-tail test.
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From page 90... ...
Arteriosclerotic and degenerative heart disease (420-422) 283 4.31 266 3.90 Cirrhosis of liver (581)
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From page 91... ...
RADIATION RISK STUDIES 91 TABLE 4 LEUKEMIA MORTALITY AND INCIDENCE IN SMOKY PARTICIPANTS No. of Leukemia Cases Observed/ Leukemic Expected Probability Cell Type Observed Expected Ratio {Poisson)
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From page 92... ...
92 MILITARY AND VETERAN EPIDEMIOLOGY TABLE S CAUSES OF DEATH IN SMOKY PARTICIPANTS, 1957-1979 Deal Observed ExDected Ratio All causes 320 364.8 0.88 Trauma 103 84.9 1.21 Neoplasms 64 64.3 1.00 Other disease 153 215.6 0.71 Source: Caldwell et al.
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From page 93... ...
RADIATION RISK STUDIES TABLE 6 DEATHS FROM NEOPI^SMS AMONG SMOKY PARTICIPANrS, lg57-lg7g Deaths ObseIved Expected Ratio All neoplasms 64 64.3 1.00 Leukemia 8 3.1 2.58 Lymphoma 3 4.2 0.71 Multiple myeloma 0 0.7 0.00 Digestive cancer 15 15.6 0.96 Respiratory 21 22.2 0.94 Brain & nervous 5 2.9 1.72 system Other 12 12.7 0.94 Source: Caldwell et al.
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From page 94... ...
* The total is less than the sum because there were 1,713 multiple test participants.
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From page 95... ...
RADL4TION RISK STUDIES 95 TABLE 8 GAMMA RADIATION DOSES (MREM) BY SERIES, PERCENTAGE OF PARTICIPANTS, AND MEAN VALUES Number with Known Mean Percent more than Series Dose Dose 100 300 1,000 3.000 5,000 Greenhouse 2,099 1,291 87.6 81.7 55.9 8.2 3.0 Upshot- 5,741 291 10.3 9.1 7.1 3.9 1.2 Knothole Castle 7,595 1,493 91.3 78.7 45.2 13.6 3.7 Redwing 9,205 1,534 88.3 79.2 47.0 17.6 2.8 Plumbob 9,477 538 57.1 35.9 13.4 3.8 1.4 Smoksr*
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From page 96... ...
96 MILITARY AND VETERAN EPIDEMIOLOGY TABLE 9 OBSERVED AND EXPECTED MORTALITY FROM CANCER BY CALENDAR YEAR: SMOKY Cohort Size: 3,554 Kind of cancer Follow-up year Deaths 1-10 11-20 21+ Total Digestive Observed 0 12 5 17 Expected 3.51 9.36 7.92 20.96 SMR -- 1.28 0.63 0.81 Respiratory Observed 6 9 11 26 Expected 3.83 14.68 13.21 32.00 SMR 1.57 0.61 0.83 0.81 Leukemia Observed 1 5 4 10 Expected 1.12 1.69 1.14 3.97 SMR 0.89 2.96 3.51 2.52 Other Observed 5 13 6 24 Expected 6.54 13.60 10.51 30.86 SMR 0.76 0.96 9.57 0.78 Total Observed 12 39 26 77 Expected 15.00 39.33 32.78 87.78 SMR 0.80 0.99 0.79 0.88 Abbreviation: SMR, standardized mortality ratio. Source: Robinette et al.
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