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The relationship of radon exposure to cancers other than lung cancer was studied in data from a cohort of Swedish iron miners occupationally exposed to radon. The cohort included 1,294 miners who worked over 1 year between 1897 and 1976 and who were alive on January 1, 1951. The average length of underground work was 18.7 years. The average exposure upon leaving the mines was 89 working level months. The observed to expected ratios for mortality from extrapulmonary cancers, stomach cancer, and rectal cancer were 1.21, 1.45, and 1.94, respectively. No significant association was seen for cancer mortality with cumulative exposure to radon and sites other than lung, either by individual site or across all sites. The authors conclude that although the miners showed an excess of cancers other than lung cancer as a group, there is no strong evidence that the excess is caused by cumulative radon exposure.
Environmental Health Perspectives, 103(Supplement 2):45-47, 1995. (8 references)
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