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Epidemiological Studies of Chronic Exposures to Radon: Additive and Multiplicative Models and Quality Assessment of Individual Exposures

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2018) | Viewed by 4046

Special Issue Editor

National Radiation Protection Institute, Bartoskova 28, Prague, Czech Republic
Interests: radiation epidemiology, radon

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Lung cancer risk in radon exposed miners has generally been studied since the 1960s using a cohort designs. The risk from residential radon was studied substantially later (since the 1980s) mostly using case-control designs. In both designs, the risk has been described in relative risk models, assuming multiplicative effects between the background risk and the risk from radon exposure. The additive risk models, where the background risk and radon exposure induced risks are added, were not explicitly reported. In both approaches, the risk models can be improved by inclusion of modifying factors, similar to the Japanese Life Span Study of atomic bomb survivors (LSS).

The aim of the present Special Issue is to report results based on both additive and multiplicative models and compare the models with LSS. In studies with individual smoking information, the interaction between radon and smoking can be explicitly modelled. In studies where individual smoking data are not available, estimated background rates can be compared with national lung cancer rates. Resulting models for studies with smoking data and those without smoking data can be compared. In addition, statistical power for distinguishing the additive and multiplicative model can also be studied.

In addition of the above, a study of quality of exposure can be realized, including description of methods used in individual exposure estimates. This study can be complemented by risk estimated for different periods of exposure and job categories like hewers, other manual workers (maintenance, support, technical and supervising underground workers).

Dr. Ladislav Tomášek
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Lung cancer
  • Radon
  • Multiplicative and additive risk models
  • Modifying factors
  • Quality assessment of individual exposures
  • Smoking

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

12 pages, 599 KiB  
Article
Histopathologic Analysis of Lung Cancer Incidence Associated with Radon Exposure among Ontario Uranium Miners
by Avinash Ramkissoon, Garthika Navaranjan, Colin Berriault, Paul J. Villeneuve, Paul A. Demers and Minh T. Do
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(11), 2413; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15112413 - 31 Oct 2018
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3844
Abstract
Although radon is a well-established contributor to lung cancer mortality among uranium miners, the effects of radon decay products on different histopathologies of lung carcinoma are not well established. Using a retrospective cohort design, this study aims to examine the risks of lung [...] Read more.
Although radon is a well-established contributor to lung cancer mortality among uranium miners, the effects of radon decay products on different histopathologies of lung carcinoma are not well established. Using a retrospective cohort design, this study aims to examine the risks of lung cancer by histological subtypes associated with exposure to radon decay products among the Ontario Uranium Miners cohort. Cases were stratified by histological groups, and associated risks were estimated for cumulative radon exposure after adjustment for attained age and calendar period. Between 1969 and 2005, 1274 incident cases of primary lung cancer were identified. Of these, 1256 diagnoses (99%) contained information on histology. Squamous cell carcinoma was most common (31%), followed by adenocarcinoma (20%), large cells (18%), small cell lung carcinoma (14%), and other or unspecified cell types (17%). Of the histological sub-groups, small cell lung carcinoma had the strongest association with cumulative radon exposure; compared to the reference group (<1 cumulative working level months (WLM)), the highest exposure category (>60 cumulative WLM) had a relative risk (RR) of 2.76 (95% CI: 1.67–4.57). Adenocarcinoma had the lowest risk and was not significantly associated with exposure to radon decay products (RR = 1.49, 95% CI: 0.96–2.31). An increasing, linear trend in relative risk was noted with increasing cumulative WLM across small cell, squamous cell, and large cell lung carcinomas (Ptrend < 0.05). Similarly, the excess relative risk (ERR) per WLM was highest for small cell lung carcinoma (ERR/WLM = 0.15, p < 0.01), followed by squamous cell carcinoma (ERR/WLM = 0.12, p < 0.01). Non-statistically significant excess risk was observed for adenocarcinoma (ERR/WLM = 0.004, p = 0.07). Our analysis of the Ontario Uranium Miners cohort data shows differences in the magnitude of the risks across four histological subtypes of lung carcinoma; the strongest association was noted for small cell lung carcinoma, followed by squamous cell, large cell, and lastly adenocarcinoma, which showed no significant associations with exposure to radon decay products. Full article
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