ERF for long-term indoor exposure to radon and lung cancer

From Opasnet
Jump to: navigation, search



Question

What is the exposure-response function of indoor air radon on lung cancer? Radon exposure is assumed to occur as a long-term exposure to radon in indoor air.

Answer

Exposure-response function

ERF for long-term indoor exposure to radon and lung cancer(RR per Bq/m3)
ObsResponse metricExposure routeExposure metricExposure unitThresholdERF parameterERFDescription
1IncidenceInhalationAnnual average indoor concentrationBq/m30RR1.0016 (1.0005 – 1.0031)Darby 2004

Page-specific entries (indices that have exactly one value each for the whole variable; usually mentioned in the title and/or in the scope.):

  • Pollutant: Radon
  • Disease: Lung cancer

Rationale

Data

A piece of data was moved from a previous version of radon ERF in Heande.

Radon is classified by International Agency for the Research on Cancer as known human carcinogen (IARC Group 1). The unit risk estimate for radon is 3-6*10-5 Bq/m3 (Pershagen et al. 1994). [1]

IARC: Group 1 (Carcinogenic to humans): Radon-222 [10043-92-2] and its decay products (Vol. 43, Vol. 78; 2001) [2]

United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR): 21 July 2009: There is mounting direct evidence to confirm a small but detectable risk of lung cancer from living with radon in the home [3]

Based on a meta-analysis of European case control studies Darby et al. 2005 [4] and 2006 [5] estimate that for each 100 Bq/m3 increase of radon concentration there is 16 % (95%CI 5%-31%) increase in lung cancer risk. [6]

It is assumed that the relative risk does not change due to age, sex, or smoking.


Finnish situation based on Seturi calculations:

  • Lung cance mortality in Finland (2006): (M 1467 + F 544=) 2011 deaths[5]
  • Extra lung cancer deaths due to radon in Finland: (mean; min; max): 346; 108; 666
  • Indoor radon causes 364 (108-666) lung cancer deaths in Finland annually, which is 17% of all lung cancer deaths.


Major uncertainties (in Finnish)

Tärkein keuhkosyövän syytekijä on tupakointi. Suhteellisesti radon lisää keuhkosyövän riskiä yhtä paljon tupakoitsijoilla ja tupakoimattomilla. Kolmenkymmenen vuoden asuminen noin 700 Bq/m3 radonpitoisuudessa kaksinkertaistaa riskin sairastua keuhkosyöpään 75 vuoden ikään mennessä verrattuna siihen, että olisi asunut matalissa radonpitoisuuksissa. Pienessä radonpitoisuudessa (<100 Bq/m3) asuvalla tupakoitsijalla on noin 10% todennäköisyys saada keuhkosyöpä, kun taas tupakoimattomalla riski on noin 0,4%. Tupakoitsijan riski korkeassa radonpitoisuudessa (700 Bq/m3) on kaksinkertainen (2 * 10% eli 20%) ja tupakoimattoman samoin kaksinkertainen (eli 0,8%).

Tupakoitsijoilla radonista aiheu­tuva riski on siis absoluuttisesti suurempi kuin tupa­koimattomilla.

Unit

RR per Bq/m3

See also

References

  1. EnVIE final report. KTL, Kuopio, 2008. [1]
  2. IARC: Group 1 (Carcinogenic to humans): Radon-222 [10043-92-2] and its decay products (Vol. 43, Vol. 78; 2001)[2]
  3. United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR): 21 July 2009: There is mounting direct evidence to confirm a small but detectable risk of lung cancer from living with radon in the home [3]
  4. Darby S, Hill D, Auvinen A, Barros-Dios JM, Baysson H, Bochicchio F, Deo H, Falk R, Forastiere F, Hakama M, Heid I, Kreienbrock L, Kreutzer M, Lagarde F, Mäkeläinen I, Muirhead C, Obereigner W, Pershagen G, Ruano-Ravina A, Ruosteenoja E, Schaffrath-Rosario A, Tirmarche M, Tomasek L, Whitley E, Wichmann H-E, Doll R. Radon in homes and lung cancer risk: collaborative analysis of individual data from 13 European case-control studies. British Medical Journal 2005; 330: 223–226.[4]
  5. 5.0 5.1 Darby S, Hill D, Deo H, Auvinen A, Barros-Dios JM, Baysson H, Bochicchio F, Falk R, Farchi S, Figueiras A, Hakama M, Heid I, Hunter N, Kreienbrock L, Kreuzer M, Lagarde FC, Mäkeläinen I, Muirhead C, Oberaigner W, Pershagen G, Ruosteenoja E, Schaffrath Rosario A, Tirmarche M, Tomášek L, Whitley E, Wichmann H-E, Doll R. Residential radon and lung cancer – detailed results of a collaborative analysis of individual data on 7148 persons with lung cancer and 14 208 persons without lung cancer from 13 epidemiologic studies in Europe. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment Health 2006; 32 Suppl 1: 1–84.
  6. EnVIE final report. KTL, Kuopio, 2008. [5]

Related files

<mfanonymousfilelist></mfanonymousfilelist>