BMJ  2005;330:1151 (14 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7500.1151-a

Letter

Attributable lung cancer risk from radon in homes may be low

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—Darby et al provide compelling evidence that indoor radon is an important contributor to the risk of lung cancer.1 However, the derived estimate of radon attributable lung cancers may have a low bias.

The authors estimate an increase in lung cancer risk of 16% for each incremental 100 Bq/m3 of radon from a pooling of the European residential case-control studies. They then estimate that radon may contribute to 9% of all lung cancers in those countries on the basis of an estimated average radon concentration of 59 Bq/m3 for 29 European countries. However, the relative risk per Bq/m3 was determined in each study for an exposure window of five to 35 years before ascertainment of the disease.

Typically, lung cancer will occur after the age of 55, so exposures received during childhood and young adulthood are not included. This would not be a problem if exposures occurring more . . . [Full text of this article]

Jerome S Puskin, director

Puskin.Jerome@epamail.epa.gov
Center for Science and Risk Assessment, Radiation Protection Division, ORIA (6608J), US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC 20460, USA

David J Pawel, statistician

Center for Science and Risk Assessment, Radiation Protection Division, ORIA (6608J), US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC 20460, USA


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Relevant Article

Radon in homes and risk of lung cancer: collaborative analysis of individual data from 13 European case-control studies
S Darby, D Hill, A Auvinen, J M Barros-Dios, H Baysson, F Bochicchio, H Deo, R Falk, F Forastiere, M Hakama, I Heid, L Kreienbrock, M Kreuzer, F Lagarde, I Mäkeläinen, C Muirhead, W Oberaigner, G Pershagen, A Ruano-Ravina, E Ruosteenoja, A Schaffrath Rosario, M Tirmarche, L Tomásek, E Whitley, H-E Wichmann, and R Doll
BMJ 2005 330: 223. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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