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Mortality in a combined cohort of uranium enrichment workers.

ABSTRACT: To examine the patterns of cause-specific mortality and relationship between internal exposure to uranium and specific causes in a pooled cohort of 29,303 workers employed at three former uranium enrichment facilities in the United States with follow-up through 2011.Cause-specific standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) for the full cohort were calculated with the U.S. population as referent. Internal comparison of the dose-response relation between selected outcomes and estimated organ doses was evaluated using regression models.External comparison with the U.S. population showed significantly lower SMRs in most diseases in the pooled cohort. Internal comparison showed positive associations of absorbed organ doses with multiple myeloma, and to a lesser degree with kidney cancer.In general, these gaseous diffusion plant workers had significantly lower SMRs than the U.S.The internal comparison however, showed associations between internal organ doses and diseases associated with uranium exposure in previous studies. Am. J. Ind. Med. 60:96-108, 2017. Published 2016. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

SUBMITTER: Yiin JH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5708885 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Mortality in a combined cohort of uranium enrichment workers.

Yiin James H JH Anderson Jeri L JL Daniels Robert D RD Bertke Stephen J SJ Fleming Donald A DA Tollerud David J DJ Tseng Chih-Yu CY Chen Pi-Hsueh PH Waters Kathleen M KM

American journal of industrial medicine 20161018 1

<h4>Objective</h4>To examine the patterns of cause-specific mortality and relationship between internal exposure to uranium and specific causes in a pooled cohort of 29,303 workers employed at three former uranium enrichment facilities in the United States with follow-up through 2011.<h4>Methods</h4>Cause-specific standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) for the full cohort were calculated with the U.S. population as referent. Internal comparison of the dose-response relation between selected outcom ...[more]

PMID: 27753121

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Project description:Uranium processing workers are exposed to uranium and radium compounds from the ore dust and to γ-ray radiation, but less to radon decay products (RDP), typical of the uranium miners. We examined the risks of these exposures in a cohort of workers from Port Hope radium and uranium refinery and processing plant. A retrospective cohort study with carefully documented exposures, which allowed separation of those with primary exposures to radium and uranium. Port Hope, Ontario, Canada, uranium processors with no mining experience. 3000 male and female workers first employed (1932-1980) and followed for mortality (1950-1999) and cancer incidence (1969-1999). Cohort mortality and incidence were compared with the general Canadian population. Poisson regression was used to evaluate the association between cumulative RDP exposures and γ-ray doses and causes of death and cancers potentially related to radium and uranium processing. Overall, workers had lower mortality and cancer incidence compared with the general Canadian population. In analyses restricted to men (n=2645), the person-year weighted mean cumulative RDP exposure was 15.9 working level months (WLM) and the mean cumulative whole-body γ-ray dose was 134.4 millisieverts. We observed small, non-statistically significant increases in radiation risks of mortality and incidence of lung cancer due to RDP exposures (excess relative risks/100 WLM=0.21, 95% CI <-0.45 to 1.59 and 0.77, 95% CI <-0.19 to 3.39, respectively), with similar risks for those exposed to radium and uranium. All other causes of death and cancer incidence were not significantly associated with RDP exposures or γ-ray doses or a combination of both. In one of the largest cohort studies of workers exposed to radium, uranium and γ-ray doses, no significant radiation-associated risks were observed for any cancer site or cause of death. Continued follow-up and pooling with other cohorts of workers exposed to by-products of radium and uranium processing could provide valuable insight into occupational risks and suspected differences in risk with uranium miners.

Dataset Information

Mortality in a combined cohort of uranium enrichment workers.

Publications

Mortality in a combined cohort of uranium enrichment workers.

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